Go Figure
by writergirl18
Summary: Two american teenagers find a portal straight into Hogwarts, see what trouble ensues. au, J/L, RL/OC, RL/NT, SB/OC I Do NOT own Harry Potter, I am putting my disclaimer here: I own nothing but Jessi and Alex, J.K Rowling has everything else, oh and I suck at summaries
1. Portal to a New Life

A/N: Hi! So obviously, it's been quite awhile. This is because we've been completely revamping everything, so this is the first chapter of the edited version, and we hope you enjoy the improvements!

In a small town in suburban America, a girl was cleaning out her rather messy garage with the help of a friend. Her name was Alexandra Louvelle, a thirteen year old who would soon be turning fourteen and entering high school. She was a bit crazy, but had a good head on her shoulders. Her heart went out to anyone in need, no matter what their problem was and she had learned to comfort people expertly, so that they would forget their worries when they spoke to her. Aside from that she absolutely loved the Harry Potter series. Her friend was Jessi LaGrande, a fourteen year old who would be entering high school at the same time. She was a bit more sane on the outside, but wasn't without her own moments of oddity. While she wasn't as good with comforting people, she was good at figuring out what they were feeling or thinking. This combined with her highly rational thought process allowed her to give people a clear outlook on things.

After they finished sorting a box of old pictures, Alex pulled yet another box off the wall and nearly dropped it in surprise. There in front of the pair was a doorway that came to a little above Jessi's waist. They knew there was no where it could go so they decided to crawl through and find out where it went. After all, they were very curious and weren't about to give up an opportunity to crawl through the proverbial rabbit hole. They moved the remaining box out of the way and moved for the door at the same time, struggling to figure out who would go first. Eventually they decided Jessi would lead and started crawling through the tunnel behind the little door.

When they came out of the small door at the other end of the tunnel they were crawling through, they realized they weren't in Illinois anymore. For starters, they were in a dimly lit stone corridor that was filled with moving paintings and ornate tapestries. Plus it was dark outside, the waning moon was beginning to rise above the sloping lawns, dark forest, and large lake that were visible outside the window. It was about noon in back home.

"I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!" Alex gasped.

"We weren't in Kansas to begin with." Jessi smirked in response, turning around and coming face to face with a rather stern looking woman.

"Uh, Alex..."

Alex turned around and had a feeling she knew exactly who she was looking at, and Jessi had reached the same conclusion.

"Who are you?" The woman asked as Alex stared at her in awe. The woman was returning the look.

"I'm, I'm Alex Louvelle. And this is Jessi LaGrande. Are we at Hogwarts?"

The woman looked shocked and then nodded.

"I'm Professor McGonagall. Let's get you to Dumbledore, shall we?"

"Albus Dumbledore? And you're Minerva McGonagall?"Alex asked in complete awe.

"Yes. Come on, follow me."

Alex and Jessi shared a look before they followed the women silently, holding back the millions of questions that were racing through their heads.

_Oh my goodness! I can't believe this! Please let it be real! I wonder if the war is real. Will we get to become witches? Were the books correct about their personalities? If we get to stay, can we help them? _Alex thought as she and Jessi shared another look that told her Jessi's thoughts were on par with hers, as usual.

As they walked through various hallways, Alex and Jessi kept staring at their surroundings in awe, it seemed so real! Maybe it actually was…

They entered the Headmaster's office and Alex and Jessi both sat down in front of the large desk that sat in the centre of the room. A tall, thin, wizened old man sat down behind the desk and stared at them through his half-moon spectacles as if he could see through them, leaving no doubt in either of their minds that this man was the great Albus Dumbledore.

"Well who do we have here?" Dumbledore inquired, smiling warmly at the pair..

"My name is Alex Louvelle, sir. I'm from America, the Midwest specifically."Alex replied respectfully, her voice shaking slightly.

"And I'm Jessi LaGrande; I'm also from the Midwest. We got here together."

"What wizarding school do you go to there? I don't remember there being one in that area."

"Well, we're not witches. We're just muggles. We were cleaning out her garage when we found a doorway where there wasn't supposed to be a doorway. We crawled through and ended up here at Hogwarts." Jessi explained quickly.

"You're muggles?" McGonagall asked in surprise and Alex nodded.

"Since I know this is Hogwarts, and I know you're Dumbledore and McGonagall, I'm going to make some assumptions. There's a dark wizard named Voldemort," Dumbledore nodded so Alex continued; "You're fighting against him, you and the Order of the Phoenix. You're the good guys, but people are still dying. You have no idea how the war will end, but you are doing your best to win. You're going through Tom Riddle's past to try and figure out his future."

"How do you know all this? The war hasn't spread to America yet and you're a muggle."

"We love to read, and our favourite series of books is the Harry Potter series. This war is chronicled in them to some extent." Jessi replied before Alex launched into another lengthy rant.

"Harry Potter? Well I don't know any Harrys, but I do know a James Potter." McGonagall mused.

"As in the Marauders?"Alex asked excitedly.

"You know them?"

"Well, I know of them, sir. They happen to be our favourite characters."

"Right well let's discuss some more important things." Dumbledore told them, making Alex fidget more nervously and Jessi take a calming breath.

"In order for you to have gotten here, you must possess some magical abilities, meaning you are not muggles, but muggle-born witches."

"Does that mean we get to go to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, now how old are you?" McGonagall questioned.

Alex's mouth dropped open in unison with Jessi's and she took a few moments to compose herself before responding. "I'll be fourteen in September and Jessi will be fifteen in November."

"Then you shall start Hogwarts in your fourth year. We will call in as many teachers as we can to give you the education you have missed over the last three years. How quickly do you think you can move in to the castle?"

"We can be ready by the end of the day." Jessi decided after she thought through what preparations were necessary.

"Perfect, I will give you your Hogwarts letters and send you home to tell your parents of this. Come back here as soon as you can and I will have some of our younger Order members take you to Diagon Alley to buy your supplies."Dumbledore explained.

"Okay, thank you!"

"One more question, do you know the ending of the war?"

Both girls' expressions fell slightly and they nodded.

"Yes, and I think I can safely speak for both of us when I say we want to help the Order by finding ways to prevent deaths that are to come. We can research until we're old enough to actually join the Order." Alex smiled.

"We will gladly take your help. Too many good people are dying." McGonagall sighed.

Dumbledore handed Alex and Jessi each an envelope and McGonagall led them back out of the ornate office.

"Do you think we'll be able to learn everything?" Jessi asked curiously

McGonagall put her hands on each of their shoulders and nodded.

"As long as you believe in yourself and really try, I'm sure you will both do fine, dear." McGonagall smiled, softening her hard expression at the girls' concern.

"Thank you." Alex smiled in return.

"Right, well here we are! Come back as quickly as you can."

Alex and Jessi nodded and crawled through the tunnel back to Alex's house, where they quickly prepared to move to their dream school.


	2. Help from Familiar Faces

A/N: Here's the next chapter of our update, as you may have noticed, we've made a lot of changes by adding depth where possible

McGonagall went back to Dumbledore's office and sat down where the girls had been minutes earlier.

"As we talked, I was reading the girls. They were reading me as well, without really meaning to. Alex was feeling my emotions and Jessi was studying my movements in order to better judge my character. I picked through their minds a little before they somehow managed to block me out and I saw that they know a lot about this world, and the people they'll be going to classes with. They will be powerful witches; there is no doubt of that. They already have powers that they don't realize." Dumbledore told McGonagall, confirming what she had already suspected.

"I thought so too. They had a very strong aura around them. They seemed to radiate power, but they don't notice it. They will have no problems learning all their lessons." McGonagall agreed, "There is one other thing that I noticed. Their bond to each other is so strong that they seem to be able to connect their thoughts and power. Obviously they haven't noticed yet because they haven't had any proper instruction, but I think that with their lessons, they'll discover that they can control that bond and use it to their advantage."

"I agree. Now I've contacted the Prewitt boys and asked them to show them around Diagon Alley. I've told them they only need to buy a wand, their robes, a trunk, and their school books for the time being. They can go back later to get the rest of their supplies. They should be here any minute. I am going to call on Lily Evans and Remus Lupin later this evening and ask them to be their guides and help them adjust. Once Jessi and Alex have finished their lessons they can also take them out to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade occasionally so that the girls can get more comfortable with their surroundings and so that they can have friends by the time classes start up."

"Sounds like a great idea to me." McGonagall replied as the fire in Dumbledore's office glowed green and two young men stepped out.

"Good Evening!" One of them laughed loudly.

"Hello Gideon, Fabian."

"Hello Professors!" Gideon responded.

"Alex and Jessi should be here shortly. Please try not to scare them away." McGonagall requested.

"We'll try."

McGonagall sighed and Alex and Jessi walked into the room, freezing as they saw the two boys. Jessi turned to Dumbledore in surprise.

"Gideon and Fabian Prewitt?"

"Yes." Dumbledore replied, so Alex turned to greet them.

"Pleasure to meet you."

_Both very tall, obviously pranksters. I wouldn't be surprised if they played Quidditch, they seem nice enough, and they've both got kind smiles. And of course the famous Weasley hair, although technically they're not Weasleys, oh well that's a small technicality. _Jessi seemed to follow Alex's train of thought and smiled secretly at the small technicality as well.

They both held out their hands which the boys both shook before pulling them towards the fire.

"Come on! Time to take you to Diagon Alley!"

With that the group disappeared and Dumbledore turned back to McGonagall.

"Would you please set up the classroom that's hidden behind the portrait of the three witches on fire as Alex and Jessi's workspace Minerva?"McGonagall nodded and Dumbledore added one last instruction, "Then visit the other teachers and try to get them to help teach the girls."

McGonagall nodded and left the office and Dumbledore apparated to the Evans' doorstep. He rang the doorbell and a short, thin girl with long red hair opened the door, freezing in shock when she saw Dumbledore standing in front of her.

"Professor Dumbledore! Please, come in!"

"Thank you Lily."Dumbledore replied, stepping inside and sitting down on the couch Lily offered.

"Lily! Don't tell me you've let another freak in my house!" Petunia screamed from the other room, making Lily sigh.

"This year we have two special new students at Hogwarts, Alex Louvelle and Jessi LaGrande. They are going to be exchange students to Hogwarts from America and are in your year. I would like you and Mr. Lupin to help them adjust, and later this summer to take them to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley so that they know some people in their classes and so that they are more comfortable with their surroundings."

"Of course, sir." Lily responded, curious about the new students.

"Thank you. Now misses Louvelle and LaGrande are a little odd. They know many things, and are very good judges of character. They can also read emotions to an extent. Don't be alarmed by their behaviour."

"Okay."

"Thank you Ms. Evans and now I shall go and talk to Mr. Lupin. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Dumbledore apparated to the small cottage where Remus lived and knocked on the door gently. Remus opened the door and his heart dropped when he saw that Dumbledore was standing there.

"Good Evening Mr. Lupin. I need to speak with you, and no, this has nothing to do with your condition."

Remus's face lifted on hearing that and he let Dumbledore in happily. They sat down at his small kitchen table and Remus handed Dumbledore a cup of hot chocolate.

"Thank you. Now this year we are getting exchange students from America named Alex Louvelle and Jessi LaGrande. They will be in your year and I would like you and Ms. Evans to help get them adjusted. I would also like you two to take them out to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley at some point to help them get used to their surroundings and to help them get more comfortable with the people they'll be around for the next year. They are a bit odd though. They can read emotions, are very good judges of character, and they knows a lot of things that it may seem like they shouldn't. Don't expect your furry-little-problem to stay secret from them for long. It wouldn't surprise me if they knew within moments of meeting you."

"Of course I'll help, sir. What house are they in?"Remus said at once, slightly worried about what they would think of him.

"We will be sorting them later today, but I have a feeling they will be in Gryffindor. Enjoy the rest of your day, and thank you."


	3. Diagon Alley

A/N: We're working to update as quickly as possible to make up for the delay, hope you enjoy

Meanwhile Alex, Jessi, and the Prewitt twins were enjoying their time at Diagon Alley. They had already set up their accounts at Gringott's and gotten their robes. They walked into Ollivander's next and Alex found her wand quickly. It was made of willow and cherry with a unicorn hair core. Jessi found hers just as quickly. It was carved from vine wood and contained a dragon heartstring core.

Then they got their books and trunks and they headed towards the Leaky Cauldron for dinner while Alex and Jessi listened to the boys' commentary of their surroundings.

"There's Florean Fortescue's, they've got right good ice cream there."

"Oh, and over there is Eeylop's owl emporium, if you want a pet, there's the place to go."

"There's Quality Quidditch Supplies, best shop in Diagon alley if you ask me. Have you ever played Quidditch? It's a real riot."

They finally reached the Leaky Cauldron and the boys quickly waved to someone inside.

"Molly! Come meet the newest Hogwarts residents!" Gideon called to a short red-head who hurried over and greeted them kindly.

"Hello! I'm Molly Prewitt. Now which one is Jessi and which one is Alex?"

Alex and Jessi introduced themselves and Molly smiled, "Right, I'm sure you'll be wanting food, I've already ordered Butterbeers for you."

"Thank you." Alex replied as they sat down to eat their dinner.

"You know dears, you are quite tall! Both of you!"

Alex blushed and Jessi looked down. The fact was they were very tall indeed, Alex was nearly six feet tall, and Jessi wasn't too far behind. Molly patted their hands soothingly and they continued to eat as the Prewitts all discussed how their days had gone while Alex smiled quietly at Jessi.

_This is all so amazing, and it feels so real! Maybe, just maybe it is. I certainly hope so. So far everyone has been so nice, the Prewitts certainly are! They're all so loving. And Dumbledore and McGonagall were amiable enough. I think I'm going to love it here._

Jessi guessed Alex's thoughts and smiled back widely before giving Alex's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Dears, do you need more food? You look a bit peaky!"

"Yes, thank you." Alex gladly took the second helping she was offered, and Jessi did the same.

"So what year are you at in Hogwarts Molly?" Jessi inquired after she had swallowed.

"I'm going into my sixth."

Jessi nodded and Gideon smiled at her. "You've been pretty quiet. Why don't you tell us about what teens do in America?"

Jessi nodded. "Okay. Well we watch a lot of TV. TV is this box that sends moving pictures to it, like plays kind of. There are different kinds of shows too. Right now reality shows are big, like the Miss America beauty pageant, American idol, The Bachelorette and... Jersey Shore."

Jessi spit out Jersey Shore as if it would poison here, making Alex snort loudly.

"Miss America?" Fabian interrupted.

Alex nodded, and Gideon smiled. "I think I like the ring of that. What do you think bro?"

Fabian nodded and turned back to Jessi, "Well continue Miss America."

Jessi barked out a laugh, "If anyone's Miss America here it's the blonde one, I don't do the whole fake beauty pageant thing."

"Hey, I don't either!"

"Well then, Alex will be Miss America, and Jessi will be the Bachelorette."

"Anyway, we also listen to music constantly. We all love it."

"That's like us."

"That's kind of it, I mean we read a lot, but most teens don't. We also like to write, but again, most teens don't. Oh, and we play sports." Alex concluded for Jessi so that she could continue eating.

"What sports?"

"Football, soccer, tennis, volleyball, baseball, lacrosse, track, wrestling, swimming, and basketball are pretty common ones."

"We've just got Quidditch."

"Quidditch seems amazing though. We want to learn how to play." Alex said excitedly.

Gideon and Fabian both launched into a joint explanation of Quidditch, while Molly smiled at her brothers' enthusiasm.

When they finished Alex and Jessi were dropped back off at Hogwarts, left with a warning that they better make sure to write, they then went home and quickly started packing, folding their robes in neatly at the bottom, placing their school books and personal books on top to protect them and then gathering their shoes. They found all their tops and folded them somewhat neatly and then they gathered their bottoms and stuffed them in on top of everything else. Alex and Jessi then gathered all their Harry Potter things and shoved as much of it into the trunks as they could and carried the rest downstairs in a few trips.

Alex hugged her mom goodbye, Jessi having already done so when she ran home and brought her things over. Alex put her cat Isis in her basket while Jessi grabbed her cat Pal and then they pushed everything through the tunnel ahead of them. It was working fine until they tried to shove their trunks through. The tunnel seemed to have gotten smaller and the trunks wouldn't fit through the opening. Alex and Jessi threw their collective weight at the trunks and they went flying out, the girls landing on top of the trunks in a crumpled heap, causing the surrounding portraits to snicker. Alex stood up and gave the pictures the dirtiest look she could before helping Jessi grab all of their things and pull them down the hall.

They were about to turn the corner when they ran into Dumbledore who led them to their workspace. After they had put their stuff away and essentially set up an office, Dumbledore took Alex and Jessi down to the Great Hall where McGonagall was waiting with the sorting hat. Alex put it on her head and was sorted into Gryffindor and Jessi followed suit, making McGonagall smile.


	4. Lessons and a Letter

A/N: We realize this is a bit shorter than the others, but more will follow shortly

Alex and Jessi began their lessons the next day and began with Charms, quickly flying through everything from levitating to light casting. Then came transfiguration, and McGonagall was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they managed to turn their buttons to a needle and back again, and then move onto more advanced transfiguration. Then came defence against the dark arts with Jane Ackerman, who was very kind and patient with the girls.

"Here, Alex, you need to wave your wand like this, see? It makes it easier."

Alex watched and then performed the spell perfectly, making Jane nod. "Good. Now we're moving onto boggarts. Jessi, be a bit more commanding with your pronunciation, I know you have that in you, don't hold it back."

After defence Alex and Jessi learned Herbology and Astronomy simultaneously, studying the latter at night and Herbology during the day.

Finally Alex and Jessi went over Potions, History of Magic, Care of Magical creatures, and prepared to take their exams. After three days of non-stop exams they were exhausted, but McGonagall had them take one last lesson, flying.

Alex and Jessi sped through that and loved flying so they spent most of their spare time at the Quidditch pitch when they weren't hanging out with the staff or swimming in the lake that is.

Their exam results came back and they had passed with flying colours. Alex decided she would tell the Prewitts so she pulled out a sheet of parchment and started writing to Molly, and then to the boys.

_Hey Molly! It's Alex and Jessi, although Alex is the one doing all the writing. We passed all our exams with Es and Os, with the exception of an A on my third year History of Magic, which Jessi still got an E on. I hope you're having a good summer; we can't wait to see you again. I just wanted to say thank you for treating us so kindly, I know it must've been strange. See you soon, Alex._

_Hey boys! It's Alex and Jessi. We passed all our exams and we've been spending our free time flying. We love it! We hope to learn Quidditch soon, maybe you can teach us. We'll see you when the school year starts, Miss America and the Bachelorette (who is not overly pleased with the name you chose for her)._


	5. Meeting Remus

A/N: A longer chapter to make up for the last short one, and here comes a familiar face

One day after spending a few hours flying, Alex and Jessi walked into McGonagall's office for lunch. Alex hadn't really bothered to put herself together and was wearing some jean shorts and a purple shirt that she had tied up so that it didn't cover her stomach. It's not that Alex did it on purpose to attract attention; she just was more comfortable in lighter clothing. Plus her waist-length blonde hair was a complete mess and was flying up all around her. Jessi was in a similar state of disarray, wearing ripped shorts and a shirt that hung loosely. When they walked in they found Minnie (McGonagall was surprisingly cool with them calling her this) talking to a guy who was about their age and had sandy brown hair. When he turned around, Alex and Jessi saw the scars that covered his face and knew instantly who it was.

"Remus Lupin?" Alex guessed, causing McGonagall to smile and nod and the boy to look slightly confused.

"I'm Alex Louvelle; this is Jessi LaGrande nice to meet you." Alex said, holding out her hand, which the boy shook.

Jessi then turned to McGonagall and frowned.

"Could you have least given us a heads up that there would be other people here?" Jessi then turned to Remus, "Sorry that we're a bit of a mess right now. We were just out flying."

Jessi normally wouldn't have cared about the impression that she and Alex made with their appearance, but she recognized the importance that the first impression this boy had of them could affect their standing with the marauders.

"No problem."

"Okay well I guess you three can get going now." Minnie smiled, making Alex's brow crumple in confusion.

"Get going? What do you mean?"

"Dumbledore asked me to show you around Hogsmeade. Lily will take you out to buy your school supplies sometime next week." Remus explained, standing up and opening the door.

"Oh! Okay, see you later Minnie!" Jessi beamed as she walked through the door, dragging a still confused Alex behind her.

"Have a good time dears!" Minnie called after her, making the pair laugh.

As they left Alex took the ponytail holder out of her shirt which turned out to be a little dress and she slipped the tie around her wrist before attempting to smooth out her hair.

"McGonagall lets you call her that?" Remus asked.

"Yep! We have tea every other day, so we just call by her first name. She acts kind of like a mother towards us." Jessi explained as she tried to fix her appearance as best as she could.

"So I take you know who I am?"

"Mhmm. You're Remus John Lupin, nickname Moony, member of the Marauders and a werewolf." Alex listed, making Remus's face fall.

"I'm sorry you got stuck with me as a tour guide then."

"We're not. You're not a monster, even though you're convinced you are." Alex told him honestly, smiling at him blithely.

"You don't care?"

"Of course not! What matters is who you are, not what you are!" Jessi laughed.

Remus smiled at the pair as they walked down the castle steps into the bright sun. Alex was humming quietly to herself and Jessi was laughing at her friend and Remus couldn't help but stare at them out of curiosity. Little did he know that they were doing exactly the same thing, only they were doing so out of the corner of their eyes.

_He's pretty tall, and he'll probably end up taller than me, glad to know I won't stand out like a freak because of my height. Wow! His eyes are really green! I don't think I've ever seen anyone with eyes that green, except in movies of course. He seems nice, too. Like he's one of those guys who always takes care of other people. I think I may end up being very good friends with this boy. _Alex thought as Jessi silently did her own assessment.

"So what house are you in?" Remus questioned a few seconds after the conversation had stilled.

"Oh, we're in Gryffindor. We're really happy about that. We were afraid we would end up in Slytherin."

"I'm in Gryffindor too."

Alex smiled although she already knew that. "Cool. So where are we going?"

"I thought we would go to the Three Broomsticks for lunch first and then I'd show you around after that." Remus told her, putting his hands in his pockets as they walked through the gates to leave the grounds.

"Sounds good to me, I'm starving." Jessi smiled.

"You know, it's funny, I had expected you to be boys. Dumbledore never specified your genders, and both of your names could also be male. It was a bit of a shock to see you two come sauntering in." Remus laughed.

"I can imagine" Jessi chuckled, "Although I'm pretty sure Alex trips a lot more than she saunters."

Alex turned cherry red and whacked Jessi's arm.

"Ow! You know it's true."

"You don't need to announce it to the entire world, good lord!"

Remus laughed at their banter.

"You two will get along great with my friends, they're just like you."

Jessi and Alex both smiled as Remus held open the door of the Three Broomsticks for them.

_Hmm… a gentleman, that's new. _Jessi thought as she walked past.

"Thanks."

They sat down at a table near the window and waitress came over to take their order.

"I'll have a Butterbeer and a Sheppard's Pie." Alex decided.

"Same." Jessi chimed.

"Butterbeer and a steak, rare."

The waitress left and Alex started up the conversation again.

"So have you finished all your work for school?"

"Yeah. Do you know who the defence teacher for this year is?"

"Oh, Jane. She's really nice, but she has high expectations of everyone. Make sure you have the first chapter of your textbook read and outlined for the first day of class. She'll expect that at the least." Alex remembered.

"Jane?"

"Yeah, Jane Ackerman. She's an auror on leave to recover from an injury." Jessi explained.

"Okay, thanks. Anything else?" Remus asked.

"Make sure you have cheering charms down perfectly by the first charms lesson, Flitwick will be giving extra homework to anyone who can't perform it on the first day." Jessi continued

"How do you know all this?"

"Oh, we're living at Hogwarts right now. We've been eating meals with the teachers. They've been giving us tips."

"You're living at Hogwarts? That must be pretty lonely." Remus muttered as their food was placed in front of them.

"We've got each other so we really don't mind too much. It's never a boring day with the two of us."

"Well that's good."

Alex nodded and took a bite of her Sheppard's Pie.

"So what are your friends like?" Alex asked after she had swallowed.

Although she knew a lot about the Marauders, she wanted to hear what Remus had to say about them. After all, the Harry Potter books could be wrong, although so far they seemed to be pretty accurate.

"Well, James is a little full of himself, but he's really quite kind. He's very protective of people he cares about too. Sirius is very arrogant, but he's got a good heart. Peter tends to just kind of be there. He's not very brave, but he is loyal. James and Sirius banter a lot like you two do actually."

"They sound like good people." Jessi smiled, and Remus nodded.

"They are. They're the best friends a person could have."

Alex smiled at Remus and they ate their food in companionable silence. When they had finished, they split the bill and headed back outside.

"Where to next?"

"How about Honeydukes? It's my favourite place here."

"Okay." Alex, Jessi, and Remus walked down the street to Honeydukes. Remus opened the door and held it open for Alex and Jessi, who smiled and thanked him as they walked in. They looked around at all the candies and smiled at how magical it was.

"Chocolate frogs are really good, so are the Honeydukes Chocolate Bars." Remus told Jessi, pointing at the large display of chocolates.

"I love chocolate!" Jessi sighed happily.

"Drooble's gum, Fizzing Whizbees, and Honeydukes lollipops are good, too." Remus told Alex, pointing out some of the other candy displays.

"Yum." Alex smiled.

The trio bought a good supply of candies and left with their bags, heading down the street to Zonkos. Inside they found all sorts of things, from dungbombs to exploding quills and Alex and Jessi laughed at all the pranks.

"I've never been in a joke shop!"

"Really? My friends practically live in this shop!" Remus laughed.

They bought a few pranking materials and then headed back up to the castle. As they walked, Remus asked the girls about their friends.

"They're a little, crazy. They're wild, loud, and outgoing. I'm the oldest and Alex is the youngest, which is ironic, since she's the tallest. We're all pretty strange which is why we're so close I guess." Jessi explained.

"Sounds kind of like our group, except for the age differences, we're all within a couple of months of each other." Remus mused.

"Yeah, they're all a year or almost a year older than me because of when cut off dates were. I barely made it into the grade I'm in because of my age."

"That makes sense then. At Hogwarts, it's usually just that if you're 11 by the time you enter school, then you start your first year. I suppose you're in our year so that you can stick with Jessi."

"Pretty much. Plus her birthday is decently close to the start of school, so it's not much of stretch." Jessi laughed.

"Oh really? Well, that's good. We should probably head up to the castle now, the professors won't thank me for keeping you guys out until dark when you're still not familiar with the area."

Alex and Jessi nodded in agreement, and the trio headed up to the castle, laughing merrily along the way. When they got to the castle they headed up towards Gryffindor tower, Alex and Jessi steering them through a secret passage that Remus didn't know. As they walked up the stairs Alex tripped, proving Jessi's prediction to be correct, but stood up before Remus could help her.

Remus sighed and hung his head, thinking she was afraid because of what he was, and realizing this Alex shook her head.

"I'm not afraid of you. I don't care that you're a werewolf; I think it's kind of cool. I love wolves. I'm just used to taking care of myself." Alex soothed, gently touching his hand.

"She has this stubborn to a fault streak in her where she insists on trying to be independent when at all possible." Jessi confirmed, to let Remus know it wasn't him.

"You have that stubborn streak too."

Remus laughed and nodded that he understood so they continued towards Gryffindor Tower. When they reached the portrait Alex turned to Remus.

"I'm sorry if my reaction scared you, I'm just not use to being around people who aren't used to my idiosyncrasies." Alex said.

"It's okay, I'm just used to thinking reactions have to do with my condition." Remus said, but Jessi shook her head.

"We won't judge you just for that, it's not like you can control it. We really don't care that you have a furry little problem, so to speak."

They walked into the common room and Jessi and Alex waved goodbye.

"Right, well thank you for everything. I guess I'll see you when school starts." Alex smiled.

"You might see me before then." Remus replied, smiling back at Alex.

"Okay, cool! See you later!" Jessi called as he walked down the hall.

He waved back and Alex and Jessi put their packages upstairs.

"He was nice, don't you think?" Alex asked absently.

"Well, there's one marauder who doesn't find us completely crazy yet. We'll see about the others. And yes, he was very nice." Jessi laughed.

"I still can't believe that this is actually happening! It's mind boggling." Alex sighed as they headed back downstairs.

"I know! I feel like I'm living in a dream."

"I understand the feeling. It just doesn't seem real yet. It's like my brain is processing everything, and my body is going through the motions, but it just won't click yet."

"Mhmm..." Jessi mumbled before curling up on the couch for a nap, making Alex giggle and grab a good book from their dorm.


	6. Getting Adjusted

The next day Alex and Jessi spent some time exploring the castle, taking care to check out passageways mentioned in the books. Completely on accident they discovered that there were various other secret rooms and passageways that even the marauders and the Weasleys didn't know about. They had Alex's proclivity to fall to thank for those discoveries.

Of all the rooms, Alex's favourite was within the passage that they had led Remus through; it was a little room that you could access by tapping three bricks. It led to a little garden with a bench, ponds, and flowers. It was where she went to read and forget that a war was coming when Jessi was off in her favourite spot for some alone time. Luckily, Jessi's favourite spot was hidden behind a framed mirror just across the way from Alex's. It consisted of a round room with a window seat and a skylight. Large, cushy pillows decorated the floor around a baby grand piano and paper lanterns were strewn about the room. It was convenient that they both had those places, because as close as they were, they both valued privacy and liked to spend some time alone with their thoughts or a good book.

Alex and Jessi also found more ways out of the castle and started to create a map of their own, which was just like the Marauders', only more detailed. They spent most of their evenings working on it, carefully detailing every inch of the castle. It took about three nights of research in the library to discover the spell that the marauders had used, but both agreed it was worth the tedious research.

~x~

The next day Alex and Jessi went into the great hall for lunch and found only McGonagall and Jane sitting at the table.

"Hello Alex dear!" McGonagall smiled.

"Jessi! You look lovely today! Come sit by me, dear."

Alex skipped up to their table, with a laughing Jessi following close behind, and sat down in between the pair, Jessi sat next to Jane, as requested. Instantly food appeared on their plates and they took a bite calmly.

"Dears?"

"Yes?"

"Later this week Dumbledore will be sending you with another student to go and get your supplies." McGonagall told them.

"Isn't it still kind of early in the summer to go do that?" Jessi pondered.

"Dumbledore sends certain families their letters early, mostly the larger families or families that go in large groups, so that the shopkeepers aren't swamped."

"Oh, okay."

"That makes sense actually." Alex laughed, making Jessi laugh at her obvious remark.

"So be prepared to leave and go shopping the next time you're called up to Dumbledore's office." Jane informed them.

"Will do." Jessi affirmed.

"And make sure you bring your money with you."

Alex laughed. "Okay, we get it. You don't need to be mother hens, We'll be fine!"

Jane and McGonagall exchanged a look, but said nothing more on the issue.

"Do you think we're prepared enough for the year's lessons?"

McGonagall and Jane both nodded. "Yes. We've all taught you everything you'll need to know and you passed all of your exams with extraordinary results."

"Okay good. I'm just nervous." Alex fretted.

"Agreed." Jessi muttered.

"Which is understandable, but it will be fine dears, we have faith in you."

"Thank you. That means a lot." Jessi smiled

"I'm so excited, but I'm scared too. What if we don't fit in?" Alex worried, voicing a concern that she and Jessi hadn't quite been able to voice to each other.

"Dears, no matter where you go, you'll always be unique. You're just those types of people. But that doesn't mean that you won't find a place at Hogwarts that will be just right for you." McGonagall smiled, placing her hand over Alex's.

"Exactly. Don't change yourself, no matter what. If someone is actually your friend, they won't want you to change." Jane added, ruffling Jessi's hair affectionately.

"You already have Remus. He's one of the truest friends you can have. You'll be fine."

Alex and Jessi smiled gratefully and went back to their tea as McGonagall and Jane shared a look. They had expected there to be concerns, but that one had thrown them for a bit of a loop.


	7. Lilies and Brooms

A week later, Alex and Jessi were called to Dumbledore's office. When they arrived they found a petite red-head waiting for them by the fire.

"Lily Evans?"

"Hi! You must be Alex and Jessi! "Lily nodded.

Bright personality, outgoing, a go with the flow kind of person. Bright green eyes of course, although not as green as Remus's were. She's tiny, probably a little spitfire though. She's beautiful too, gorgeous in fact. I hope she likes me. Alex thought, while Jessi's thoughts focused more on the fiery spark in Lily.

"Have fun girls!" Dumbledore called as they stepped into the flames.

The girls stepped out in Diagon Alley and walked down the street to Gringott's. They all got their money and when the trio stepped out into the sun Lily asked a familiar question.

"So I take it you know who I am?"

Jessi nodded "Lily Evans, fourth-year Gryffindor, object of James Potter's affections, sister Petunia, and a muggle-born like us."

"Yeah. So what should we do first?" Lily asked, trying not to appear overly surprised by how much these two girls knew about her.

"Umm, how about potion supplies?" Alex suggested, wanting to get that one out of the way.

"Okay!" Lily said brightly, "So why are you coming to Hogwarts specifically?"

"Well, we wanted to try something new. We've always loved travelling, and seeing as we're so close, we thought it'd be best to do this together." Jessi smiled.

"I speak French, so I could've gone to Beauxbatons, and Jessi's family is French, but she speaks Spanish not French, so that didn't seem like a good idea, so we just decided to go to a nice English speaking school instead." Alex laughed.

"Well you'll love Hogwarts! It's so beautiful!" Lily sighed.

"We know; we're living there right now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they wanted to make sure we had time to adjust to our surroundings."

They reached the apothecary and went inside. They bought the supplies they needed, Alex and Jessi also buying cauldrons and went back outside. After that they went to the Owl Emporium where Alex got a spectacled owl and Jessi got a Barn owl, the book store, where Lily got her books, the parchment store where they all got quills, parchment, and ink. They sat down at Florean Fortescue's for ice cream and Jessi noticed a small little broom shop hiding behind Madam Malkin's shop. It wasn't Quality Quidditch Supplies and Jessi decided to go check it out.

"Lily, what's that store over there?"

"Oh! I don't know; I never noticed it before." Lily responded.

The girls all stood up and paid before walking into the little shop.

"Good Afternoon! How can I help you lovely ladies?" The man behind the counter asked.

"Can you tell us a little about the shop? We never noticed it before." Jessi smiled politely.

"Well, I make brooms that are a bit safer than the ones at the Quidditch store. They are also more in-tune with their riders thoughts because I make the broom to fit the customer to an extent."

"That's amazing! Any chance we could buy a couple brooms?" Alex gasped.

The man smiled at her and nodded.

"I'll just need to ask you a couple questions. Let's start with you my dear."

"Okay." Alex nodded.

"What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor."

The man made a small note. "What kind of wand do you have?"

"Willow and cherry with a unicorn hair core."

"How good of a flier are you?"

"Decent, I only just started flying."

"Okay, and what type of flying do you like?"

"Well, I like to fly just for the freedom. I do a lot of tricks, but I like to go for quiet rides too."

"Right, now you."

"I'm in Gryffindor as well, my wand is vine with Dragon Heartstring, I also just started flying, and I'd like to be able to play quidditch eventually." Jessi listed

"Okay, I'll be right back."

The man went into the back room and Lily turned to Alex and Jessi.

"You just started flying?"

"Our school didn't offer flying lessons." Alex responded truthfully.

"Oh, that sucks."

Jessi nodded and smiled as the man came back in with two beautiful brooms. Alex's was a swirled cherry and willow with a tail that used both woods as well. Alex touched it and warmth spread through her fingers. Jessi's was made of vine wood with a swirled design carved into it. A vine wrapped around the wood where the tail began. Jessi felt as if she were picking out a wand again when she touched her broom.

"It's perfect!" She breathed, and the man nodded.

"I make every broom to fit the person who is buying it perfectly. I have my own special combination of spells that I place on them."

"That's amazing!" Lily said in awe as she stared at the broom.

"How much?" Alex asked, pulling out her bag of money, but Jessi shot her down.

"No, I'm going to pay. Count it as your birthday gift, Alex. I was going to try and find something today anyway, and since you took care of us winding up in England, so this can also help pay you back for that."

Alex protested futiley as Jessi had already made up her mind.

"Thank you, thank you so much."

Jessi paid and they left, laughing as they walked down the street. It was clear that Lily and the girls had hit it off. They were already great friends.

"Miss America! Bachelorette!"

Alex and Jessi turned around and saw Gideon and Fabian running towards them. They winced and threw their bags to Lily as they ran into them, knocking the girls flat to the ground.

"Oops! Sorry 'bout that!" Gideon apologized, pulling Alex to her feet as Fabian helped Jessi.

"Don't worry about it." Alex smiled as she took her things back from Lily.

"So what house are you in?" Fabian asked.

"Go Go Gryffindor!" Jessi cheered and the boys scooped them up into a bone-crushing hug.

"You know the Prewitt boys?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, they took us to Diagon Alley the first time we were here."

"Right, well we'll see you at Hogwarts little Yankees! Enjoy your day! Oh, and Little Lily petal, tell Allie-bear we say hi!" the boys laughed, leaving to catch up with some of their friends.

Jessi laughed and shook her head, as Alex caught sight of another familiar face. She waved over at Remus who waved back, making the people around him look over curiously.

"LILY!"

"Oh no! Potter! Come on! RUN!" Lily shouted, shoving Alex and Jessi down the alley.

I kind of want to meet them, but I can tell Lily doesn't. I guess we'll just have to wait for school to start… I wonder what they'll be like. Jessi thought as she was propelled forward.

They ran down the street, weaving in between the groups of people while clutching their packages. The girls bolted into the Leaky Cauldron and stepped into the flames, shouting their destination.

Lily, Jessi, and Alex came out of Dumbledore's fireplace pealing with laughter.

"We barely escaped them!" Lily laughed.

"They looked so annoyed! Their faces were priceless!" Alex giggled.

"That was certainly a first impression." Jessi scoffed.

The girls lay down, laughing for a few minutes before Lily stood up.

"I have to get going! I'll see you in a few days though, okay?"

Jessi nodded and Lily left so Alex and Jessi brought all their stuff to their room in Gryffindor tower.


	8. Hidden Talents

A few days later, Jessi and Alex were working on their research, trying to get as much accomplished before the school year started as possible. Alex looked at their chalkboard of people and sighed at all the names listed in red; the names of people who were supposed to die. Jessi looked over at her and tried to figure out what was eating her, finding that an answer came to her almost immediately.

"Alex, we can do this, okay? Just have faith and stay strong. We're in this together."

Alex looked over at her in shock. "How did you...?"

"I thought you told me what was bothering you." Jessi replied, eyebrows furrowed.

Alex shook her head. "I was just thinking about it."

Jessi looked confused and tried to think through the options, and Alex gasped. "Jessi, I think I just went through your thoughts. You thought first that you just knew me well, then that it might be that your thoughts were running a similar direction, and then that it was unlikely it was mind reading."

Jessi and Alex both jumped to their feet. "We need to tell Dumbledore!"

The girls left their research behind and ran to Dumbledore's office, knocking quickly before entering.

"Girls? What's wrong?"

"We think we just read each other's thoughts."

Dumbledore looked shocked and motioned for them to sit down. "We need to test that theory. I'm going to think about something and I want you to try and tell me what it is. If you're in my thoughts, I'll be able to find you there."

Dumbledore started concentrating, and Alex and Jessi both started looking for the answer. It was like they were looking through discarded files, and both quickly stopped at the same one, blurting out the answer.

"Godric's Hollow."

Dumbledore looked amazed. "You're able to go through my thoughts. That's a spectacular gift girls."

"How do we do that?"

"Why didn't we notice before?"

"'You likely have been capable of doing this for some time, but never noticed because you didn't have proper training in magic. Now that you're being taught, it's more obvious, allowing you to control it. I think that as long as you remember that you have it, it should be easy to control."

Jessi and Alex both nodded, glancing at each other in shock.

"If you two happen to discover any other hidden talents, come to me again. But for now, there is nothing else I can do for you, so I recommend you just enjoy your day."

"Thank you sir."

Jessi and Alex left, still in shock of what they had discovered about their power.


	9. September First

Suddenly it was September 1st and Alex and Jessi were excited beyond compare. They went down to the kitchens for breakfast as normal and were greeted by the two elves who had elected to be their personal elves, Nilla, who had adopted Alex, and Finky who had adopted Jessi.

"Good Morning Misses Alex and Jessi, can Nilla get you some drinks?" Nilla asked in a high pitched voice, peering at the girls with her large, childish eyes.

"Some pumpkin juice would be great Nilla. Thank you."

"And one for me too please Nilla." Jessi added as the elf hurried off to fetch them both drinks.

"What would Misses like for breakfast this morning?" Finky asked sheepishly, hurrying to take the place that was previously occupied by Nilla.

"Some chocolate waffles would be great Finky, thanks." Alex and Jessi replied together.

The girls sat down at one of the tables that were located in the kitchen and instantly food appeared before them. They ate quickly then ran out of the kitchens, throwing a thanks over their shoulders as they went.

Alex and Jessi ran up to Gryffindor tower to get changed into their swimsuits. They threw a tank-top and some shorts on over them then jogged down to the lake. When they got there they threw their cover ups over the branches of a tree and dove headfirst into the freezing waters, allowing the chill to permeate their over-heated skin. They swam a few laps before beginning to swim across the lake, racing and laughing as they went. When they reached the other shore they got out and jogged back to where they started, throwing their clothes on over their soaking swimsuits and ringing out their hair before walking back up to the castle.

Alex and Jessi went to Gryffindor Tower and dried off, changing into shorts and t-shirts, and leaving their feet bare before grabbing their brooms and heading out to the Quidditch pitch. The second they got there Alex and Jessi swung their legs over the brooms and shot up into the air. They flew a few laps before diving straight down and pulling up seconds before they would have crashed into the ground, laughing as they raced each other once more. They shot back up into the air and Alex dropped off her broom, landing on it about twenty feet below as Jessi made several arcing loops. They did various other tricks, taking care to time them perfectly and then they headed back to the castle with their hair considerably more messy.

As it would still be a few hours before anyone arrived at the school, the girls decided to return to their office, having good amount of time to work on their mission for the Order.

The girls entered their research center after giving the password to the portrait that stood guard outside of the empty classroom. Inside were piles of books and stacks of paper all revolving around one topic, the Harry Potter series.

The girls had been assigned the task of trying to figure out how to save as many lives as possible. The Marauders, Lily, the Longbottoms, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Snape, and Dumbledore were the main list of people they were focusing on at present. Not to mention Fred Weasley and Colin Creevey. The girls were trying to prevent every death they could find in the series, at least when it came to the good guys.

So far they had spent days working through all of the books, listing every death they found then categorizing it by which side it was from and writing out how it happened. Their work took awhile, and admittedly it was pretty boring at the moment, but it was necessary. Their work had the potential to save the lives of parents and children, brothers and sisters, friends and family, and innocents. As boring as it was, they knew they had to do it.

Alex was filing away another page of deaths when there was a knock at their door. Alex stood up and walked over to the portrait and realized it was only Professor Dumbledore. She opened the portrait up and Dumbledore stepped through to talk to the girls.

"Good afternoon ladies. I trust you had a good day."

"Yes, sir." Jessi answered, looking up from her work. She was currently perched on a wooden stool positioned in front of one of a series of large chalkboards, which contained the chart listing the names of casualties and the details of their deaths.

"Good. Now I am here for a couple reasons. One is that I wanted to make sure you remember that dinner is at 7: 00 tonight and that I will have to introduce you to the rest of the school."

Jessi and Alex both groaned and Dumbledore smiled reassuringly at them before continuing, "I also want to talk to you about some of the things you may face this year and also about the schedule changes you'll face."

Jessi and Alex nodded and Dumbledore explained everything to them.

"For starters, as you are not only muggleborn but also American, you will face a lot of ridicule from some students."

"You mean the Slytherins." Alex interjected.

"Yes, and also the way you'll be learning from now on will be quite a bit different from how you were educated over the summer, do you understand that?"

"Yes, sir." Jessi replied.

"Good. Now, I hope that you will be able to continue this work, but I also expect you to keep up all of your grades. You will not be helping our cause by neglecting your futures."

"We know, don't worry." Alex smiled.

"Good, well then I'll leave you to your work, just don't forget to be ready in a couple of hours." Dumbledore smiled as he headed out the door.

"Yes, sir." The girls called after him before returning to the piles of papers before them.


	10. First Feast

At 5:30 Jessi and Alex changed into their Hogwarts uniforms and made themselves presentable. They combed through their hair and Alex gently slipped her necklace around her neck. Then they washed their faces and went downstairs to wait in the Great Hall.

At a quarter after six a group of people walked into the Great Hall. Lily was at the head of the group and she ran over to the girls and sat down across from Alex diagonally so that she was next to Jessi, who was directly across from Alex. Remus also hurried over and sat down on Alex's right side, smiling at her as he did so. The rest of their friends rushed over, gawking at Alex and Jessi.

"Who's this Moony?" a boy with longish black hair asked, and Jessi figured it was Sirius Black.

"I can speak for myself, thanks." Jessi smirked, catching Sirius off-guard with her accent.

"You're American!"

"Well spotted. I'm Alex Louvelle." Alex interjected.

"And I'm Jessi LaGrande. And if the slightly haughty expression and the dung bombs in your pocket are any indication, you must be Sirius Black," Jessi said, looking up at the boy with a knowing smile."

Sirius nodded and sat down next to Jessi, glancing at her suspiciously.

"Which makes you James Potter." Alex continued pointing to the boy who had moved around to her left side. He had wind-blown black hair and glasses which were lopsided.

"And that makes you Alice Prewitt, and you Frank Longbottom." Jessi finished, gesturing towards the couple holding hands next to Lily.

"Very good." James said, sitting down on Alex's left side. Alice and Frank sat on Lily's other side.

"We're good at figuring people out." Alex responded, smiling at him sweetly.

The rest of the school had filed in by that point and Alex glanced down the table and saw Gideon, Fabian, and Molly all waving at her brightly. She waved back and hit Jessi so she would notice them as Dumbledore stood up to address the school.

"Welcome, before the sorting begins and we get to the feast, I would like to introduce a pair of special new students, Alex and Jessi if you would stand up."

Alex and Jessi did so smiling as everyone stared at them; they didn't want to betray how awkward they felt.

"Now Alex and Jessi are fourth year Gryffindors who have come here from America. I expect you all to make them feel welcome. Girls you may sit."

Alex sat back down and did the best she could to hide her face from the people still staring at her. Jessi looked similarly discomforted, although she kept her head up. Remus put his hand on Alex's arm comfortingly and she looked up enough to smile at him, but kept her head down.

"What's wrong?" James whispered to Jessi as the first years were sorted.

"She's just really shy around people we don't know. We don't really like getting stared at." Jessi whispered in response, as Alex's cheeks flamed cherry red.

James nodded in understanding and the sorting ended, making food appear in front of them. As he grabbed food, he couldn't help but assess Alex and Jessi, just as they had assessed everyone else.

Tall, stunning blue eyes. Acts confident, but I don't think she actually is. Looks athletic, but fragile at the same time. She also seems to be analyzing everyone… I wonder why? Jessi seems to be guarded, I guess she uses her strong personality as a shield like Sirius does. Striking figure, though more angular than Alex.

Meanwhile Alex and Jessi grabbed a little of everything, making Sirius stare at them in confusion.

"You actually like all this food?"

"Yeah, we've been eating it for a few weeks now." Jessi laughed, taking a large bite of food.

"Are you really going to eat all of that?" Sirius asked, surprised by how much food Alex had piled on to her plate.

"Yeah, I can eat more food than anyone expects." Alex responded, taking another large bite.

"But you're so thin! I mean, you're like a twig!"

Jessi laughed, "Look, she disappears when you look at her from the side."

"You do too!" Alex retorted, sticking her tongue out at Jessi.

"But really, you shouldn't be capable of eating so much." Sirius continued.

"And?"

"And…"

"Sirius, give her a break!" Lily scolded, smacking the back of his head.

_So she dislikes James, but she gets along with the rest of the marauders, okay. We can work with that when it comes time to set Lily and James up._

They ate the rest of their meal in silence, and Alex and Jessi finished their plates and then got seconds of nearly everything. As they walked up to Gryffindor Common Room, Lily and James started fighting, until Jessi intervened.

"Hey! Stop your bickering! If you don't I will personally glue you both to the ceiling!"

Lily looked surprised for a second but shut up, making Alex smile.

"That's better."

Alex gave the password and the group walked in as Sirius turned to James.

"Hey! Where's Peter?"

"Was he with us at the feast?" Remus asked.

James smacked a hand to his forehead. "I knew we were forgetting something! You know how he curls up under the seats as a rat, I mean like a rat and we forget he's there."

Alex and Jessi smirked at his slip-up and when the boys sat down by the fireplace a minute later, they sat on the arms of Remus's chair.

"We know your secret." Alex chanted in a sing-song voice.

"Oh really?" James asked, the fear barely concealed in his voice.

"Mhmm. You, Sirius, and Peter are illegal animagi. James is a stag, Sirius is a black dog, and Peter is a rat." Jessi stated matter-of-factly.

"You're forgetting Remus." Sirius smirked and Remus laughed.

"They already know. They knew before I had spoken a single word to them."

"As I said before, we're good at figuring people out," Alex chimed.

"You're not going to tell on us are you?" Sirius asked, eyeing the pair suspiciously.

"Of course not! Besides, Dumbledore already knows, he just doesn't care." Alex told them brightly.

Remus shook his head at her and headed up to bed, Sirius following suit after dragging James away from Lily. The four girls then headed up to bed as well.


	11. Breakfast with Classmates

The next morning they all got ready in regular clothes, not needing to dress in uniform until the coming Monday, when classes would start. Alex chose a brightly coloured tank top that she threw a thin t-shirt over. The t-shirt had slashes going down the back, and had writing all over the front. Alex then threw on a pair of shorts and some high-top converse. She left her hair down and put on no make-up. Jessi chose to layer two tank tops, the top one having pockets and being covered in newsprint. She too wore shorts and converse and threw her hair into a ponytail.

Their final roommate, aside from Lily and Alice, was a small, doll-like girl with overly done makeup. She burst out of the bathroom and approached the pair as they were headed toward the door. "Hi, I'm Eloise. Sirius and I are completely in love, so don't try anything, and we won't have any problems."

Eloise stalked down the stairs and Jessi turned to Alex. "Well that was weird."

Alex nodded with a look that clearly said she thought Eloise was off her rocker, and they laughed before leaving the room to meet Lily and Alice downstairs.

As they walked down the stairs to the common room, Remus, James, and Sirius walked down the stairs from the boys' dorms.

"Good Morning Girls!" James smiled.

"Morning," Jessi smiled in response before leaning over to Alex, "happy birthday by the way."

Alex nodded in response and James turned to Lily to try and get her attention, having not heard what Jessi whispered.

"Oi! Evans! Was that an earthquake or did you just rock my world?"

"Shut up Potter!"

Alex shook her head at James's choice of a pickup line but let it slide.

The group walked down to the great hall together for breakfast and sat down towards the back of the hall in the same places as the previous night. As they were filling their plates, McGonagall came around handing out schedules. She handed the marauders, Jessi, Alex, and the girls their schedules and walked on, smiling briefly at Alex and Jessi before going.

"Let's see, on Monday I've got Defence against the Dark Arts, Charms, Potions, Lunch, Care of Magical creatures, Transfiguration, and a Free Period. What about you guys?" Alex asked when she finished reading off her schedule.

"Same." They all replied.

"Woo! We all get to go to classes together!" Jessi cheered, faking some enthusiasm at the beginning.

"Yippee!" Alex agreed in a very fake voice before glancing over at Jessi and collapsing into a fit of laughter.

The Marauders all looked over at her funny and Jessi just shrugged in, "you'll get used to it," kind of way.

"I'm okay." Alex said calmly as she sat back up.

"Are you sure?" Jessi asked skeptically, turning to face Alex.

Alex nodded as she met Jessi's gaze and seconds later was doubled over in laughter while Jessi chuckled triumphantly.

"Every time! Why can I not keep a straight face?" Alex whined as she pulled out of her current fit of laughter.

"Beats me," Jessi chuckled, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.


	12. Pranks and Quidditch

After breakfast, Jessi and Alex were abandoned to their own devices, having been left behind by their dear marauders, Lily, Alice, and Frank. After a few moments of silence, a look of comprehension dawned on Jessi's face and she turned to Alex with an evil smirk.

"If you were to fill a conveniently placed bucket with a substance of sorts, what would it be?"

"Maple syrup." Alex responded, and seeing Jessi's quizzical look continued, "What? I was just thinking about waffles."

"Okay, let's go place a bucket."

Twenty minutes, a bucket full of maple syrup, a trip wire, and a conveniently placed pile of feathers complete later, the girls had grabbed their brooms and were off to the quidditch pitch.

"So do you like your birthday gift?" Jessi asked, referring to the broom she had bought for Alex earlier in the summer.

"Nope, I love it. Thank you so much Jessi!" she exclaimed, hugging Jessi tightly.

The girls smiled at each other and mounted their brooms before flying across the pitch, throwing in tricks and stunts as they went.

As Jessi and Alex continued to soar across the pitch, the Marauders, now reunited with a not so rat-like Peter, stormed down to the pitch covered in feathers and maple syrup. Sirius was clutching the note they had found in the feathers that read:

_Enjoy your new look! With love, Jessi and Alex._

Just as they were about to yell up at the girls, Sirius noticed how well they were flying.

"Wow! Look at them flying! We should get them on the team. Alex would be a really good seeker, and Jessi would be an awesome beater. Remus, Peter, you guys go get Ben and bring him down here to watch them fly."

Remus and Peter headed off while James and Sirius called up to Jessi and Alex.

"Oh girls! Mind coming down to talk with us about your little gift to us?" James shouted up.

"Mmm, not particularly, but you're welcome to join us up here if you like!" Alex responded, teasingly looping around the boys' heads as she hung upside down off her broom.

"By the way, I love the new look, it really suits you." Jessi smiled as she too looped around on her broom.

"You want to fight girls, cause my bet is we could take you at quidditch any day." Sirius growled, swatting out at Alex who was hovering right behind James's head.

"That I doubt." She laughed, soaring just out of reach of the hands that were trying to swat her away.

"You're on! Me and Sirius as seeker and beater versus you and Jessi as seeker and beater." James shouted, running towards the broom shed and grabbing his and Sirius's brooms and the box of quidditch balls.

"Prepare to lose, boys." Jessi smirked as James released the bludger and snitch into the air.

Shortly after the match had begun, Remus marched down to the quidditch pitch, accompanied by a tall, muscular boy. They walked onto the field and watched as Alex, followed closely by James, dove straight downward; getting closer and closer to the golden blur that was the snitch as Jessi sent the bludger careening towards Sirius with surprising force. As they continued to watch, James pulled out of the dive, thinking it suicide to continue, but Alex continued straight downward, increasing in speed as she went. Just as it looked like there was no chance of Alex being able to pull out of the dive, she threw her weight backwards, leveling her broom as she caught the snitch.

"That was brilliant!" Jessi shouted, coming down to high-five Alex.

"Told you we would win."

"That was pretty good." The boy who had walked with Remus down to the pitch spoke at last, startling Alex who whipped around so fast that she tripped, and Remus just barely managed to keep her from falling.

"I'm Ben Rafe. You are?"

"Alex Louvelle." Alex replied, regaining her footing.

"Jessi LaGrande." Jessi added, dangling upside down from her broom.

"Nice to meet you, I've got a couple questions. One, are you in Gryffindor?"

"Yeah."

"Do you like flying?"

"Hell yeah."

"Are you willing to be on the quidditch team?"

"Oh yeah!" James shouted out for the girls before they could answer.

"Then welcome to the team, practices start next week, see you then." And with that Ben walked away, leaving a confused Jessi and Alex behind.


	13. First Day of Classes

The next morning the girls all woke up and got ready in their school uniforms. While Lily and Alice wore their uniforms exactly as they were supposed to, Alex and Jessi took a couple liberties with theirs. Instead of wearing plain black shoes and socks, Alex wore knee high converse and Jessi wore high tops, while Alice and Lily stuck to plain black trainers and socks. Alex and Jessi also decided to ditch the sweater vests they were supposed to wear over their blouses and didn't tighten their ties. They then rolled their sleeves up and decided they were ready to go.

The girls then headed downstairs and met up with the marauders and Frank.

"Nice Socks!" Sirius exclaimed upon seeing the blue and black socks Jessi was wearing.

"I know! They're awesome, right?" She responded, brushing past him.

"What's with your shoes?" James asked Alex.

"I wanted something out of the ordinary, and these are completely amazing, so voila." Alex responded airily, as if that was the only logical explanation.

James nodded in a "whatever you say" kind of way and everyone started walking down towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

They sat in the same order they had before, chatting animatedly as they ate.

McGonagall walked down to the group and smiled when she saw Alex's feet and Jessi and Alex's wardrobes.

"Not going to conform to the school standards?" she asked jokingly, causing the surrounding Gryffindors to stare at Alex and Jessi in shock.

"Well of course not Minnie darling! I'm a unique person. Plus we want to stick out like sore thumbs!" Alex chimed innocently, flicking her wand to make her shoes flash in rainbow colours.

"Okay then. Oh, and Alex if you really want your shoes to stand out, try making pictures move across them, like this."

McGonagall flicked her wand and dragons started flying across the rainbow flashing shoes, breathing fire and chasing each other.

"Thanks Minnie!" Alex called after her, admiring her new shoes.

"How do you get away with that?" James asked, staring at her in awe.

"I'm a very lovable person, I worm my way into everyone's hearts until I can do whatever I want." Alex smiled up at James and blinked her brilliant blue eyes and he had an overwhelming urge to just hug her.

"I can tell!" he said, so she freed him from her gaze.

"Yep, and then I use her as my in!" Jessi laughed.

"Come on, we should get to class." Remus said, grabbing James and Alex and pulling them towards the exit.

"Okay then!"

Everyone followed and laughed as Alex started humming with Jessi happily and accidently walked into a wall as a result.

"Oops! I forgot that people put walls up in buildings!" she laughed as Remus pulled her up off the ground.

"Thanks." Alex added as the group walked into Defence against the Arts for first period.

Jane gave Alex and Jessi a quick smile before beginning her lesson, and as Alex and Jessi had predicted, extra homework was assigned to everyone but Lily, Remus, Alex, and the Ravenclaws for not having the first chapter outlined.

"What kind of a teacher assigns homework on the first day?!" Sirius moaned indignantly.

"Oh calm down. It's not so bad."

"You don't have homework Blondie! You're one to talk!"

Alex rolled her eyes and ignored Sirius's look of indignation as she and Jessi led the way to charms, managing to get them lost only once along the way.


	14. Fun with the Boys

The following weekend, Alex and Jessi decided to hang out with Gideon and Fabian, who had basically adopted the pair as their successor in the pranking business.

"Now girls, today we're going to show you our favourite secret passageways, and then we'll teach you how to navigate the castle in the dark."

"Okay, let's get started."

Gideon and Fabian each grabbed one of the girls' hands and they dragged them through the castle, narrating everything as they went. Luckily enough for Alex and Jessi, they had good memories and speed-talking was Alex's specialty, so they caught every word they said, no matter how quickly or quietly it was spoken.

"Okay, now we're going to teach you how to navigate when you can't see."

Alex and Jessi were blindfolded and the boys taught them which stairs creaked in certain ways, which windows the night could be heard out of and the differences between the teachers' footsteps. Once Alex and Jessi comfortable the boys brought them back to Gryffindor Tower and rewarded them with Butterbeer.

"So how have your classes been going?"

Alex laughed, "Fine. Remus and Lily have been helping and we get just about everything to begin with, so it isn't too hard. I'm kind of dreading OWLs though, 'cause I know next year will be killer tough."

"Ah, you'll be fine."

"Yeah, you just need to study."

Jessi smiled at them as the Marauders came running into the Common Room.

"Blondie! Snarky! There you are!"

"We've been looking everywhere for you!" Remus smiled.

"Sorry Prewitts, but we're going to have to steal them from you for awhile!" James smirked, grabbing Alex and dragging her out of the common room while Sirius grabbed Jessi.

"Bye boys! Thanks for the help!"

Once they were in the hallway, Jessi dug her heels into the floor, causing Sirius to stop and grab Alex to halt James as well for a moment.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Hogsmeade of course!"

Alex smirked. "Last one to the one-eyed witch has to pay!"

Alex and Jessi sprinted off and the boys raced after them, James reaching the statue last.

"You're buying at the Three Broomsticks!" Sirius laughed, shoving James down the tunnel in front of him.

"Fine, I'll pay."

Alex laughed and jumped in after James, racing down the tunnel in front of him with Jessi hot on her heels, Remus, Sirius, and Peter. They all chased after Jessi, who had flown past Alex and started tripping as it grew pitch dark, but Alex and Jessi continued to race ahead.

"Alex! Jessi! Wait up!"

"Yeah! We can't see anything!"

The boys heard Alex's laugh echo around them. "You should learn echo-location then!"

"Please don't tell us that's what you're doing!"

"Nope! We just have good eyesight!" Jessi laughed.

Alex and Jessi were suddenly in front of the boys and they slid in between James and Sirius, linking arms with them. "Here, we'll lead the way."

Soon they reached Honeydukes cellar and the girls let them go as they slid up into the shop.

"What now?" Sirius asked and Jessi stared at him in disbelief.

"What now?" She asked mockingly. "We're in the middle of the best sweet shop around! We're going to buy candy before we do anything else!"

Sirius smiled sheepishly and Alex playfully swatted him on the head.

"Come on y'all."

Alex led the way through the store, grabbing various things as she went along and Jessi and the boys followed suit. They bought their sweets and then Remus led the way to the Three Broomsticks where they all sat down together for lunch.

James, being the gentleman his parents had raised him to be, pulled Alex's chair out for her and then he pushed it back in for her, before doing the same for Jessi.

"Thanks James."

"No problem."

The bar maid came and took their orders and Sirius started giving James advice on how to get Lily to fall for him.

"You need to use pick up lines, like 'Is that top felt? Would you like it to be?'

"Oh really Sirius! Surely you can do better than that!" Alex laughed. "Try something like 'If beauty was sunlight, you'd shine from a million light years away.' Something that's not crude and overly sexual."

Remus started laughing and Alex looked confused. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I just didn't expect you to know any pickup lines."

"My comebacks are much better." Jessi smirked.

James laughed and said he would take her advice so Alex and Jessi smiled and ate their steaks happily. Remus tried to grab a bite of mashed potato off of Alex's plate, but Alex smacked his hand away.

"Mine! Get your own!"

Remus laughed and stole some food off of James's plate instead. James was staring at Alex strangely again and Alex glanced at him questioningly.

"Sorry, it's just usually girls aren't very protective of their food."

Jessi snorted. "You are if you have friends like the ones we have in America! You give them a sliver of opportunity and all of your food will be gone!"

James shook his head at her and went back to his own food while Sirius tried to see if he could steal any of her food. As his fork poked out at Jessi's plate, she batted it away and swiped some of his food, batting away his next blow and stealing more. Every time Sirius gave her an opportunity, Jessi stole some of his food and suddenly Sirius turned to his plate to realize there was nothing on it.

"You gave me a sliver of opportunity!" Jessi laughed as she ate some of the food she had stolen from Sirius, already having finished her own food.

"You little thief! Give me my lunch back!"

Jessi pushed her plate over and turned around to take a bite of Peter's food before she decided that she was full.

Everyone finished and James paid the bill silently before they headed out into the crisp fall air.

"Let's go to Zonkos!"

James dragged Alex down the street towards Zonkos and she followed without protest as she grabbed Jessi while Remus, Sirius, and Peter jogged to keep up.

After they shopped through Zonkos, they all headed back up to the castle, and Alex flopped down on the couch with her head in Remus's lap for a nap while Jessi sprawled out in an armchair to sleep as well.


	15. Marauder's Map

A few weeks later, Alex and Jessi had developed a very distinct place in the Gryffindor Community. Being younger than everyone and also being occasionally child-like in her ways, Alex quickly became the little sister to the Marauders, especially James, and they were careful to make sure they protected her. Remus and Alex were best friends within a couple of days, becoming nearly inseparable. They were almost always in the common room reading or doing homework together. Alex and James were also close as could be, and Lily and Alex's bond got even stronger, although Alex also hit it off with Alice, who while shy was a very sweet friend. Alex was friends with the others as well, but she wasn't as close to them as she was to Remus, James, and Alice. Although she did take particular joy in tormenting Sirius whenever she possibly could, with the help of Jessi of course. Jessi and Sirius were inseparable, being very similar in temperament and humour. Jessi also became very close with Peter, and rather than being a sister to the Marauders, she became one of them. Jessi and Lily hit it off as well, Jessi being closer in temperament to the red head than Alice. Despite being good friends with all of the marauders as Alex was, Sirius, Peter, and Lily were really the ones she was closest to.

Jessi and Alex's knowledge of the boys helped them a lot. They knew about the map and the cloak and used it to their advantage. One day the boys were peering at the map and Alex and Jessi came up behind them.

"What are you up to?"

Sirius quickly made the map vanish and they smiled at them unconvincingly.

"Can I see that?"

Sirius handed it to her cockily and Jessi smirked. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The boys stared at her in shock and Alex smiled. "Don't worry; we won't tell. Mischief managed."

They walked away and they stared after them in awe.

Alex and Jessi had also hung out with Gideon and Fabian multiple times, and they were very useful in the fact that they knew their way around the school as well as the Marauders did. This certainly had it advantages.

"I told you to turn left at the statue of the centaur but no, you turned right!" James whisper shouted at Sirius.

"We are obviously lost, where is the map?" Remus asked calmly, trying to settle the tensions.

"I thought you had it." Sirius groaned.

"I want waffles!" Peter moaned, looking distraught.

"Oh boys! If you want to get the kitchens I suggest you follow me! You won't find them anywhere near here!" Alex called softly, dancing around the invisibility cloak teasingly.

There was also the useful perk that they could somehow see through the invisibility cloak, which they found out from Madam Pomphrey was a side effect of the tunnel that was in Alex's house.

She led them down a long hallway to a spiral staircase that led down several floors. Within minutes she had them outside the entrance to the kitchens and stepped inside, the boys right behind her.

Jessi waved brightly at them as they entered, a large tub of ice cream in front of her. Alex sat next to her and was handed a tray of brownies almost instantly. She thanked the house elf who had brought it to her and dug in.

"I believe you were looking for this earlier, yes?" Alex waved the Map in front of the Marauders and they made a grab for it, but she pulled it out of their reach.

"Now now boys! Where are your manners?" Alex scolded, a smirk flitting across her face.

"Can we please have the map back?" James asked, causing Alex to smile.

"I'll think about it."

She shoved the map back into whatever mystical pocket she had pulled it out of and Jessi spoke as Remus sat next to Alex, stealing one of her brownies.

"Alex, where exactly did that map come from? Our uniforms have no pockets and you don't have a bag…"

"Don't ask."

Jessi nodded and went back to her ice cream and the boys sat down across from them and got their food.

"Waffles!" Peter cried excitedly as a plate was set before him.

Once they had finished their food, Jessi and Alex stood up, walking towards the exit. They left, leaving the boys to find their own way home.

"Alex, are we just going to leave them stranded? They'll get lost, and then Filch will find them." Jessi whispered.

"I left the map on the table. They'll be fine, now come on!" Alex tugged on Jessi's arm and led/dragged her down corridor after corridor until they were in Gryffindor tower.


	16. Morning Swims and Invitations

Soon it was October and Alex and Jessi were still swimming in the lake as often as possible, despite how cold it was getting. One morning as they headed out for their morning swim, the Marauders noticed them leaving the castle and decided to follow them. They hid under the cloak and made sure they had the map so they could watch them. They also kept a good distance, but Alex and Jessi still realized they were following them.

"Hey boys! Turn away for a second!" Jessi called, and they did as she said, not understanding why or how she had figured out they were following them.

Alex and Jessi quickly pulled off their cover ups and dove into the lake, making the boys whip around.

"Alex! Jessi! Are you okay? We'll come get you out!" James called, rushing over to the lake shore as Alex and Jessi resurfaced.

Jessi laughed and shook her head at him.

"We're going for a swim you idiot! We do this most every morning." She smiled, swimming further out into the lake.

"Why? It's freezing!" Peter complained as he touched the water.

"It's refreshing!" Alex replied, starting her laps.

After they did about ten they waved good bye to the boys and started swimming across the lake, but the boys jogged alongside them at the shore.

"We'll be fine! We've done this a million times!" Jessi called to them, yet they kept following her.

Finally they reached the far shore, and Alex used her wand to summon their clothes.

"Accio cover-ups!" She breathed, nimbly catching their clothes before they hit the water.

Alex and Jessi stood up, threw them on and got out of the water, ringing out their hair and jogging around the lake's edge.

"Why do you do this?" James panted.

"It keeps us in shape." Alex responded, speeding up until Remus was the only one who could keep up with Jessi and her.

"Why do you really do this?" He asked.

"We want to be aurors when we're out of school, this is good training. Sometimes we set up obstacles in the lake that we need to get through." Jessi explained, although it was really Order training they were preparing for.

"That makes more sense."

She smiled at him and they walked back into the castle, waiting a few minutes for Sirius, Peter and James.

"How do you do that?" James gasped.

"We've worked up to it since late July."

"Teach me!" Sirius begged, falling to his knees at Jessi's feet.

"Yes, it would be great for Quidditch."

Peter finally caught up and fell over.

"Waffles!" He moaned.

Alex patted him on the head before turning back to the boys.

"Fine. Tomorrow morning at five I want you to meet us by the lake in your swimsuits. Then we will help you train." Alex instructed, heading up to Gryffindor tower with Jessi to dry off before Quidditch Practice started.

~x~

After a long and gruelling Quidditch practice, Alex and Jessi showered and went to the library to finish their potions essays for Slughorn. It took them a few hours, but they eventually finished them, making Alex sigh in relief.

"Alex, Jessi my girls! What are you doing in this dusty library?" a voice boomed from behind them, and when Alex and Jessi turned around they saw Professor Slughorn waddling towards them.

"We were just finishing your essay, sir." Alex replied.

"But that's not due for another week, my dears! Such hard workers!" he chortled, and Alex smiled back.

"We wanted to get it out of the way so that we could be confident our grades wouldn't suffer. We have been awfully busy with Quidditch and the work we're doing for Dumbledore after all."

"True, true. Well I think you deserve a bit of a break. Occasionally I like to get a few of my more choice students together for little dinner parties, and I would be honoured if you would come join us."

"Why the honour is all ours, sir. We would be overjoyed to come. Just tell us the times and we'll work our schedule around it." Alex responded graciously, flattering Slughorn.

"Wonderful, I will send you an owl when I've decided on the times."

Slughorn left and Alex and Jessi packed up their books, heading back to Gryffindor Common Room for a nap.

"Wonder when he'll realize the essay's due Monday?" Jessi mused.

"No clue, but at least the flattery got us lined up to get more information."

"You also were good at sweet talking," Jessi laughed, "That's why I let you do all of your sweet talking uninterrupted."

Alex laughed and they let it drop as they reached the common room.

~x~

The following morning Alex and Jessi met the boys, minus Peter who had refused to come with, by the lake and they all looked slightly nervous about going into the cold water.

"Relax, its fine after a couple minutes. Now in you go."

Jessi shoved all three of them in and they all resurfaced shivering. Alex and Jessi dove in gracefully after them and had absolutely no trouble adjusting to the freezing temperature.

"Do three laps in this shallow area, swim to that rock and back. That's one lap." Alex instructed, demonstrating a lap.

The boys did as she said, although admittedly much slower than they had hoped. After they completed their laps, Jessi told them to follow her and swim across the lake. When they reached the other side, James collapsed on the bank and refused to move; Sirius crawled out and instantly fell asleep. Remus was the only one in any condition to move besides Alex and Jessi. Alex handed him his shirt, and laughed evilly at the sleeping James and Sirius.

"Alex, what are you thinking?" Remus asked nervously.

"What do you think would happen if we told their fan girls they were sleeping with their shirts off by the Black Lake?" she replied deviously and Jessi laughed.

"Something very entertaining. Let's go get the fan girls."

James and Sirius started training a lot more after that. Who knew fan girls (especially Eloise) could run so fast?


	17. Minnie, Lucy and the Slug Club

A week later the full moon came and Alex watched sadly as the boys took Remus out to the Shrieking Shack. Jessi came up behind her and patted her back soothingly, feeling similarly upset at their friend's misfortune. It was at that moment that Alex and Jessi made up their mind. They ran out to Minnie's office, taking care to avoid Filch and his cat.

When they reached the office they knocked three times and walked in, catching McGonagall off guard.

"Jessi, Alex, what are you doing here?"

"We want to ask for your assistance with something."

"Yes?"

"We want to become animagi." Alex breathed, making McGonagall look shocked.

"Girls that is very advanced magic."

"Which is why we came to you; we figured if we had your help it would go better than if we attempted it on our own." Alex explained, determination filling her eyes.

McGonagall sighed. "Fine, but I want you to understand that you can't tell anyone I helped you."

"You didn't help us." Jessi said.

"Exactly. May I ask why you want to be animagi?" McGonagall smiled, gesturing for the girls to sit down.

"We want to help Remus during the full moons. He can't harm us when we're animals, but he can when we're human. We don't want him to harm himself as much."

"Now I have to help you." Minnie sighed, realizing that Jessi and Alex had only the purest intentions.

"Thank you."

"Right, well let's begin, and this will take a few months."

Needless to say they were exhausted the following morning.

~x~

Shortly before Halloween, Alex and Jessi walked in to Potions together to find that a small scroll sitting in front of their seats. They shared a questioning glance before tucking them into their bags to look at later. When they finally got out of class, they quickly unrolled the little scrolls and uncovered identical notes, save for the difference in names.

_Dear Jessi/Alex,_

_ I recall you previously expressing interest in coming to one of my little get-togethers, and I am pleased to inform you that you are invited to the Halloween party that I am holding in my office on the 30th. I do hope you will attend. Also, it is somewhat formal, so do your best to dress appropriately for that venue._

_ -Professor Slughorn_

Alex finished reading hers first and looked up seconds before Jessi did. "Looks like we need to go dress shopping."

"No kidding, let's skive from Divination and head to Hogsmeade."

"Sounds good. Let's go."

The girls ran up to their dorm and dropped off their school things, grabbing their money before sneaking down to the one-eyed witch statue and consequently continuing on to Hogsmeade. There was one little dress shop located on one of the side streets and they made a bee line for it as soon as they knew the coast was clear of professors.

"Good afternoon ladies. How can I help you today?" the shopkeeper asked and Jessi replied quickly.

"We need dresses for a Halloween party."

"Well that's simple enough. Right this way."

The woman led them to a rack of dresses that were nice but simple cocktail dresses, and the girls each picked one quickly, not overly concerned since it would be just for a party. When they were both satisfied they paid and left, sneaking back into the castle to catch the tail end of the Divination lesson, without the teacher even noticing.

~x~

On the 30th, Jessi and Alex got ready for the slug club party and walked arm in arm down to his office in the dungeons, talking about how excited they were for the Halloween feast the next day.

Much to Jessi and Alex's chagrin, the party was a bit dull to say the least. Most of the attendees were Slytherins, which made both of them feel slightly uncomfortable, as Lily had been unable to attend due to an essay she had forgotten to finish. The pair decided it was best to leave early, and not return without Lily there with them.

"Well Professor, we're very sorry, but we have to head in." Jessi smiled as they walked over to say good night.

Slughorn frowned slightly. "So soon? Why, the party's barely begun!"

Alex instantly stepped in to smooth over the situation. "We know and we've just had too much fun too soon. We need to learn to pace ourselves better for next time. But everything was absolutely wonderful. You certainly know how to hold a party Professor."

Slughorn smiled brightly at this. "I do, don't I? Yes well, you may look for another invitation to come around sometime soon."

"We'll look forward to it sir, good night!" Alex called as she led Jessi out of the party.

"Nice job kissing ass there." Jessi laughed and Alex shrugged.

"We'll need information from him eventually, so we need to stay on his good side. And you know how he loves flattery." Alex rolled her eyes and they reached their dorm within minutes, quickly changing for bed.

"G'night Alex."

"Night Jessi."

~x~

After Halloween and the feast (which was everything the girls had hoped for and more) Alex and Jessi realized that they had quite the enemy: Lucius Malfoy. For some reason he couldn't stand them, and wanted to make their life a living hell. And one day that all came to a boiling point.

"Oi! Stupid little mudbloods! Come over here!" he called tauntingly after them and the Marauders.

"Do nothing, don't let him get to you." Alex soothed the boys, keeping them from attacking Malfoy.

"Oh? Controlling your stupid little flunkies? Like they could do anything to me!"

"Ignore him." Jessi ground out, her hand flexing threateningly.

"What, going to run away? Is that why your families don't want you in America anymore? Because you're cowards? Or is it because you're freaks and monsters? It wouldn't surprise me if you were filthy werewolves!"

That was the last straw. Alex and Jessi whirled around and stormed over to Malfoy, Jessi grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up against the wall.

"I want you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say. We could easily kill you. We don't care if you are a pureblood. In fact, that explains why you act the way you do. You probably have some mental disease caused by incest. You can insult us all you want about our blood, we don't care, because it's a heck of a lot cleaner than yours is; but do not bring our family into this, and do not talk about werewolves like they are lower than you." Jessi seethed, her eyes flaring with anger.

"Hit a sore spot, have I?"

Jessi slammed him into the wall again.

"No, we just think it's time you learned the truth. You are lower than werewolves, you are the filthy scum. We don't care what lies your precious mummy and daddy have been feeding you about you being smarter and better than everyone else, they're just lies. You're an idiot, a filthy, dirty, idiot." Alex growled.

Jessi dropped Lucius to the ground and they walked away, whirling around when he started to pull his wand out. Alex didn't even think to reach for her own wand she just pulled her arm back and punched him in the face, sending him flying backwards with a broken nose.

"Don't mess with us Malfoy. We will take you out, and we will cause you excruciating pain. We will humiliate you more than we already have. Remember that."

Alex and Jessi turned around and walked back to the Marauders, who were all staring at them with a mix of shock, fear, and awe.

"Come on, let's get to class." Alex said calmly, pulling James and Remus behind her, while Jessi grabbed Peter and Sirius.

Malfoy didn't mess with them for awhile after that.


	18. First Full Moon

Midway through November the animagus potion was finally ready, three days before the full moon. Alex and Jessi drank it and passed out, visions filling their head.

A wolf walked towards Alex and sat in front of her, its eyes seeing through to her soul. She reached out to it and it stepped closer to her, allowing her to grab its fur. The second she touched it, warmth spread through her body and she became the wolf, staring into a lake and seeing her reflection in its eyes.

Meanwhile, Jessi woke up in a forest akin to Wonderland, and ran through the forest until she nearly ran into a large white tiger. She froze and they locked eyes and Jessi knew that the tiger was her. She wasn't sure how she knew but she did, and she reached out to the creature instinctively, a feeling of warmth spread through her fingers as she touched its soft fur.

Alex and Jessi woke up and smiled at Minnie.

"We're animagi."

With that Alex turned into a wolf and Jessi into a tiger, prowling around McGonagall's office, as McGonagall smiled at them.

When they turned back, Alex and Jessi stretched a little; the change had felt very strange. It wasn't painful exactly, it was just uncomfortable.

"What were your other options?" McGonagall asked.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"What other animals did you see?"

"I only saw the wolf walking towards me, I touched its fur and then I saw my reflection in a lake and I was the wolf. Then I woke up." Alex explained.

"I just had the tiger." Jessi affirmed.

"I've never met an animagus who didn't get to choose what animal they turned into."

Jessi contemplated that for a second and then shrugged.

"Thank you for your help Minnie." Alex called as they left the office, heading back to their dorm to sleep before classes the next morning.

~x~

The night of the full moon came and Alex and Jessi couldn't stop smiling, after all, they would be helping the marauders that night, and they didn't know it. Alex and Jessi watched as the Marauders headed out and followed them as a wolf and tiger, taking care not to let them see the pair. They waited a couple minutes before following them into the Womping Willow, and crawled through the trap door in time to see the Marauders transform. They all turned to look at the girls in shock and Alex smirked wolfishly, but they still couldn't figure out who she was.

A cry of pain rang out through the shack as Remus transformed, and Alex wished she knew how to make Wolfsbane potion to help ease his pain. Remus lunged towards Sirius who dodged the werewolf, turning around and jumping on to its back. Alex approached cautiously, and Remus pounced on her but she flipped him off of her, Jessi pinning him to the ground before being thrown off herself.

The night continued with them trying to subdue the werewolf in Remus and eventually they all collapsed into sleep as the sun's rays began to shine through the boarded up windows. Alex stayed in wolf form as she slept, a gash running down her cheek from where Remus had clawed her. Jessi had hit her head and had a small gash over her eye, and she too slept in animagus form.

The boys woke up before Alex and Jessi did and they tried to figure out who they were as they slept.

"Just a normal wolf and tiger?" Peter asked hopefully, but James shook his head.

"They got into the shack and was careful to make sure we didn't notice it following us. And tigers don't live around here, so that wouldn't make sense anyway."

Remus stared at the wolf and noticed the gash on its cheek before noticing the gash on the tiger as well.

"Well whoever they are, they've been injured." He sighed, disgusted with himself.

At that moment Alex and Jessi woke up, and instead of turning into a human they bolted out of the shack, the Marauders chasing after them. They shared a look before they split up and took different paths to get to the same spot. Alex ran straight into the castle and changed into a human, bolting up to Madam Pomphrey to get treated.

"What did you do to yourself Alex?" the nurse asked.

Then comprehension dawned on the woman's face and she sighed.

"You're an animagus now too? You need to be careful."

"I know, I wasn't paying attention, but don't let the boys know, I haven't told them yet. I just showed up as a wolf and I left when I woke up. They'll be following me though." Alex pleaded, speaking quietly.

"Well you've let this cut set for too long, it's going to leave a scar, and it's pretty deep. I'll heal it as best as I can but you're going to have a nasty mark left for awhile. Unless of course you let me use scar potion." The nurse sighed.

"Thanks Poppy but no scar potion."

The nurse healed her wound and Alex bolted, barely avoiding the James and Remus, who had followed her.

Jessi meanwhile sprinted around the back of the green houses with Sirius hot on her tail, Peter having given up the chase already. Jessi slipped through a passage and turned into a human, making it up to Poppy to receive the same warning as Alex before running to meet Alex in the great hall.

Jessi sat down and they ate a hurried lunch before running up to the common room to change. Unfortunately they ran into Remus and Sirius at that point.

"Alex! Why are you in such a rush?" Remus asked as she literally ran into him.

Her blue eyes met his green ones and he remembered that the wolf had blue eyes. He grabbed her chin and moved her face to the side, showing him the large gash.

"You're the wolf! Why didn't you tell us?" Remus questioned.

"Because James would never let me come help you guys! If I told you he would've found a way to keep me at the school! I had to hide it! I wanted to help you! I know how much it hurts you, I just want to help! James is too darn protective of me to ever let me help." Alex explained at high speed, pulling out of his grasp.

"I understand. And thank you. I'm sorry that I hurt you."

"Don't worry about it, I've had far worse." Alex cringed, and touched the back of her head gingerly.

"Wait a minute! Jessi! That makes you the tiger!"

Jessi laughed and nodded, realizing the ruse was over. "Please don't tell James, you know how he'll get. We need to prove that we can handle ourselves before we can let him know it's really us."

Sirius and Remus nodded and Jessi and Alex walked away quickly to change before they ran into James.


	19. Girl's Night

About a week later, Lily, Jessi, Alex, and Alice decided to hang out together in their dorm for a night without interruptions from the boys.

They conjured pillows to sit on and placed them all over the floor, sitting cross-legged in a circle together to talk. Alex and Jessi had made a run out to Honeydukes earlier, so the girls were snacking on various sweets and had plenty of Butterbeer to go around.

Lily, as was usual, started off by complaining about James.

"Did you hear the line he used on me yesterday? 'If you were a booger I'd pick you first.' Does he have any tact?"

Alice laughed and Alex just smirked knowingly. "For a boy who has no tact, you sure seem to talk about him a lot."

Lily paled slightly and Jessi laughed. "Don't let her get to you, if you do she'll start playing matchmaker for you."

"With Potter? Gross! He's an arrogant toerag!"

Alex rolled her eyes but let it drop as Jessi handed her a chocolate frog. Alice opened her mouth to speak, but Eloise came storming in the room.

"Take your little party somewhere else, I have a friend coming in here."

Lily groaned. "Eloise, if you want to have sex, go back to his dorm."

Eloise shrieked angrily but left, huffing under her breath.

Jessi and Alex both broke out laughing and Alice groaned. "God she's the most annoying little thing I've ever met!"

"Somebody who Alice doesn't get along with? We should alert the daily prophet!" Jessi laughed, prompting Alice to chuck a pillow at her.

"How on earth have you two lasted so long without pranking her or something? Hell, Alice and I pranked her first year with the help of Remus!" Lily asked, and Alex just smiled.

"We avoid her at all cost, and when that doesn't work, we know a spell that works like earplugs."

Lily got up on her knees excitedly. "Teach us! Please, otherwise they'll lock me up in Azkaban for killing her. She annoys me more than Potter does!"

Jessi quickly taught them the spell then smirked at them. "So, how did you prank her?"

Alice blushed, but Lily smirked. "We bewitched her shampoo, it changed her hair all sorts of awful colours and stained her fingers."

Alex and Jessi both laughed and applauded their friends. "We like this side of you. We could probably use it against the boys if we wanted."

Lily laughed and nodded, along with Alice, and the girls decided that eventually they would get around to pranking the boys, but tonight, it was just about the girls.


	20. Happy Birthday

At the tail end of November, Jessi's birthday came around, and she and Alex had special plans that involved no one but them. They loved the others, that was true, but it had always been just the two of them for their birthdays, and they weren't quite ready to give up that tradition. Jessi woke up to find a little present on her night stand along with a note from Alex.

_Happy Birthday Love! Meet me down in the kitchens when you're done getting ready!_

Jessi smiled and opened the gift, finding a bracelet that had _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_ inscribed inside of it. Jessi was willing to bet that Alex had a matching one with _Mischief Managed._ Jessi got ready quickly and ran down to the kitchens to find Alex waiting for her with a glass of chocolate milk (a favorite of the pair's) and a plate full of pumpkin cookies.

"Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you! So what have you plotted to do today?"

Alex laughed. "Well, after breakfast, which you now have before you, I figure we'll head out to the Quidditch pitch for a while and just mess around, then head for lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and then we're going to spend some time at Honeyduke's before wandering around Hogsmeade, then we'll have a nice dinner in the kitchens and I figure we can go out to the forest and have a run as Animagi before bed. Just for some fun."

Jessi grinned. "I like that plan, not going to lie."

~x~

Several hours later Jessi and Alex ran out of the castle after dinner and shifted, racing each other to get to the forest.

_Hey Alex?_ Jessi thought as they ran towards the center of the forest.

_Yeah love? _Alex replied.

_Thank you. This means a lot. _Jessi sighed.

Alex shook her head._ Don't mention it. You deserve it. Look, we're in this together, and it's not going to be easy, but I figure we deserved a day off to celebrate and not to worry, and to remember that no matter what we have each other, even if we do bicker from time to time._

Jessi nodded_. Yeah, we do. No matter what, we're together. _

_Until the very end love. _Alex smiled.

_Until the very end. _Jessi agreed as they headed back up to their dorm.


	21. Train Ride

The year continued to fly by and soon it was time for Christmas Break and Alex and Jessi had been invited to stay with the Potters for Christmas, which they were quite glad of. They had already been down to Hogsmeade and gotten gifts for everyone; including a few pairs of socks for Dumbledore and a scratching post for Minnie (they had also gotten a lovely set of quills for her).

Alex woke up late the morning the train would be departing for King's Cross station and realized she hadn't packed yet and was rushing to do so, skipping breakfast in the process. Jessi, who was far more organized, had already packed and had no need to skip breakfast.

When Jessi explained the situation to Remus, he just laughed and headed up to help Alex.

She was almost done packing her bags for winter break when there was a knock on the door to the girls' dormitory.

"Come in!" she called softly and much to her surprise, Remus entered, holding a small paper bag.

"Rem! How'd you get up here?"She asked in shock, knowing that boys weren't supposed to be able to enter the girls' dormitory.

"I'm a marauder you know." He smiled.

"Right… well, what brings you up here?"

"I thought you could use some help packing and carrying your trunk. Plus, I thought you might like some chocolate, since you missed breakfast." He told her holding up the paper bag.

Alex jumped up quickly and snatched the bag out of his hand, grinning broadly as she pulled out a delicious looking chocolate frog.

"Thank you Remmy!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You do realize you have ten minutes left to pack everything and be on the train, right?"

"Oh, crap. Well then I guess now is a time to use magic."

She swished her wand over the room swiftly muttering, "packiatus" and all her possessions flew into the trunk and folded themselves neatly. With another flick of her wrist the trunk closed itself, her owl Athena's cage door closed and her cat Isis was safely in her basket. Alex set the cages on top of her trunk and muttered a spell so that they would all float behind her.

"Let's go, shall we?"

"Certainly."

They walked down briskly, quickly depositing her trunk at the drop off before running down to catch up with the rest of the Rebels and the Marauders.

"There you two are! I was beginning to think you weren't coming." James exclaimed, grabbing their arms and dragging them towards the carriages down to Hogsmeade.

"Well of course we were coming you idiot. I just had to finish packing."

"Oh! Well that makes sense actually."

Alex shook her head at his stupidity and started running ahead of James, in order to catch up with Jessi.

"Ello Jessi! Excited about Christmas with the Potters?" Alex asked cheerfully, sliding an arm around her shoulders as best as she could while carrying two cages.

"Well of course!" Jessi responded cheerily.

"It should be fun!" Alex laughed, waving good-bye to Lily as they passed her before waiting for the boys to catch up to them.

"Are you excited?" James asked as he slung an arm over each of their shoulders successfully.

"Yeah! We've never had a magical Christmas; We've always gone home to our families." Alex replied.

"Well you're in for a treat!" Remus laughed, pulling her away from Jmes.

"Yeah, Jamsie's parents know how to celebrate Christmas!" Sirius added.

"You're the first girls James has ever brought with though." Peter squeaked.

"Well don't we feel special!" Jessi laughed as the boys pulled her onto the train.

They sat down together in a compartment at the back of the train and Alex and Jessi quickly sprawled out with their legs going up the side of the compartment and their backs on the seat.  
"Rem, can you hand me my book? It's in my purse, next to Isis's cage." Alex asked.

He handed her the thick paper back and she thanked him as she started reading quietly.

"Read out loud to us!" Sirius demanded, and Alex and Jessi laughed.

"Le lendemain, ils s'attendaient à devoir éplucher soigneusement La Gazette du Sorcier pour y trouver l'article don Percy avait parlé dans sa lettre." Alex read, laughing at their confused expressions.

"What?" James asked.

"It's in French." Jessi replied laughing.

"Why would you read a book in French?" Sirius pondered in confusion.

"I can speak, read, and write French quite fluently." Alex replied, continuing to read her book quietly.

Jessi smirked at the response. True though it was, the real reason Alex had switched to that language was that it was a Harry Potter book, both girls being unwilling to completely abandon their work for the Order over break.

Remus laughed at her smirk and pulled out his own book, while Sirius and James started playing exploding snap, explaining it to a very curious Jessi as Peter watched.


	22. Potter Mansion

When the train reached the platform, James pulled Alex off, dragging her with him to find their luggage.

"James! My pets!" Alex cried, struggling to go back and fetch them.

Jessi walked out with her stuff, and she smiled.

"Thanks Love!" she laughed as she grabbed her things from Jessi.

The group grabbed carts and piled their things onto them, while James searched the platform for his parents. He apparently found them because he waved excitedly to someone.

A couple walked over to the teens, smiling widely as they hugged James in welcome. The woman had long red hair that she tied back with a ribbon. The only wrinkles on her face were laugh lines, and her smile was warm and welcoming. The man looked almost exactly like James. He had messy, windswept black hair, tan skin, and muscled arms. While he looked like someone you would not want to get into a fight with, he had a warm, welcoming face.

Alex and Jessi stared at the woman in shock; she had an extremely familiar face, and it had nothing to do with James. The woman stared at them in shock as well, reminded of a couple of girls she had lost a long time ago.

Finally the woman broke out of her reverie and addressed them.

"Hello dear, you must be Alex, and you must be Jessi. I'm Dorea, James's mother. This is my husband, Charlus."

"Yes, pleasure to meet you." Alex replied, Jessi still recovering from the strange feeling she had had upon seeing Dorea.

"Come on then!" James's dad laughed.

The group walked through the platform barrier to King's Cross Station and ditched the carts. Alex and Jessi hooked their cages onto the trunk handle and then followed Mrs. Potter outside and around the corner into an alley. Mr. Potter stuck out his wand arm and there was a deafening crack. A triple Decker purple bus stood in front of them and Alex smiled. The Knight Bus was their way to Potter Mansion.

The conductor got out and Mr. Potter bought everyone their tickets before the conductor tried to lift the trunks into the bus unsuccessfully. Alex helped him by lifting her, James's, and Remus's trunks into the bus by the time he had gotten Peter's in, and Jessi grabbed the last two trunks so they could get going.

Alex was pulled down into a seat between James and Remus and laughed as they warned her to hold on. Jessi was similarly situated by Sirius.

"I know about the Knight Bus. I'll be fine."

They looked at Alex sceptically, knowing how uncoordinated she could be. A second later the bus shot forward, sending everyone flying back into their seats. As the bus twisted, turned, and suddenly stopped and started, James and Remus were continually falling out of their seats, along with Sirius and Peter, but Jessi, Alex, Mr. Potter, and Mrs. Potter were able to stay in their seats.

James started watching Alex and Jessi to see how they were remaining in their seats. Whenever the bus stopped, they would throw their weight back, turns they would lean the other way, and starting they would just stay still. James tried to imitate them but still ended up falling, so he decided to focus on not getting hurt.

Finally they reached the road that led to Potter Mansion and after all her poise, Alex fell on her way out of the bus, knocking James and Remus over as she landed on top of them.

"Sorry!" She cried, getting up as Jessi pulled both of them up as well.

Remus laughed and James shook his head at her while Peter and Sirius laughed from next to the trunks and Mr. and Mrs. Potter started walking down the road. Everyone grabbed their trunks and headed down the road, hurrying to catch up with James's parents.

After a few minutes they reached a large wrought iron gate and Alex and Jessi stared in awe at the amazing house that lay behind the gates. It was massive with a beautiful front porch, perfectly manicured lawn, and plenty of windows. It was truly a dream house. Alex and Jessi followed James inside and was once again shocked. Despite how huge the rooms inside were, they were cosy, warm, and inviting.

"Here, I'll show you your rooms." James said, leading Alex and Jessi up a flight of stairs to the second floor.

He then led them down a hallway and up another flight of stairs, to the floor that clearly belonged to the Marauders. There were pictures all along the walls of the Marauders, Quidditch posters were hanging on the doors, and Gryffindor Gear was everywhere.

James stopped in front of a blank door that was between two decorated ones and opened it for Alex.

"Here's your room. You have your own bathroom in there. We are all up here as well. This room is between mine and Rem's rooms; it used to be Peter's, but the stripes made him feel like he was in a cage, which makes more sense now." James explained, carrying her trunk in for her.

"Feel free to decorate however you like, we all have."

Alex walked inside and moved her trunk to the foot of her bed. The room was painted with red and gold stripes and had ornate furniture. It was perfect for Alex and made her smile.

"Thanks."

James led Jessi to the room across the hall which was situated between Sirius's and Peter's. It was blue with some black swirled designs running around it by the floor boards. Jessi smiled brightly and nodded in acceptance.

"There are a couple of more down the hall, but they're pink and green, because my mom really wanted a girl, and my dad wanted to be prepared in case of a Slytherin, but I figured these would suit you much better."

"Thanks."

"Come on, we're going to have dinner in about ten minutes."

Alex and Jessi followed James downstairs to the first floor and into a large kitchen, where the other teens were already waiting.

"Which one did you give Alex? Pink or Gryffindor?" Sirius asked as James and Alex sat down at the table with the other marauders.

"Gryffindor. I don't think she would have liked it if I had given her the pink one."

"Boys! Don't talk about Alex like she isn't in the room with us!" Mrs. Potter scolded.

"Sorry mum!" Sirius apologized.

Mrs. Potter shook her head at him and turned back to her cooking.

"Jessi got the blue one." James continued under his breath so his mum wouldn't reprimand him again.

The Marauders then turned to Alex and Jessi to figure out what they were going to do the next morning.

"Anything you want to do?"

"Snowball fight." Jessi replied instantly.

The others nodded in agreement and decided that would be the next day's activity. At that moment Mrs. Potter set a large platter of food in front of them.

"Eat up."

Alex and Jessi each grabbed a chicken breast and plopped it on their plates before grabbing some carrots and pouring a glass of Butterbeer. They ate quickly, laughing as Sirius attempted to eat his entire chicken breast in one bite.

"Sirius! Cut up your food!" Mr. Potter laughed as he ate his dinner with Mrs. Potter at the kitchen counter.

Sirius pouted but did as he was told and Alex and Jessi couldn't help but smile at how loving the family was, not to mention how happy they were.

When they finished eating, they cleaned up their dishes and headed upstairs. In the centre of the third floor was an area for relaxing and talking and Alex and Jessi sprawled out on the couch, upsetting the boys.

"Where are we supposed to sit?" James asked, and Jessi laughed.

"On the floor."

"I don't think so."

With that James, Remus, and Sirius crawled up on top of Alex and Jessi but Peter decided to stay on the floor.

"Oh my god! You are really heavy! Especially you Sirius! I didn't realize how fat you are!" Alex choked, struggling to push the three boys off.

"Did you just call me fat?" Sirius asked threateningly, and Alex shrunk away.

"Uh-oh. You're in for it now Alex." James sighed as Sirius started tickling Alex.

"No! No! Please! Please! Sto-op!" Alex cried, squirming and laughing as Sirius attacked her mercilessly.

"Sirius, let her go!" Remus commanded, but Sirius ignored him and kept tickling the blonde.

Alex's eyes started filling with tears as she continued to laugh. James and Remus got off her and she managed to push Sirius off of her long enough to get up. Sirius continued to try and get Alex back so she twisted and dodged, ducking under him as he lunged for her and jumping onto his back to get out of his reach as he tried to grab her.

Alex held Sirius in a choke hold and twisted around to avoid his attempts to knock her off. Finally he sighed and gave up, so Alex deemed it safe enough to get off his back.

"How did you do that?" James asked, referring to Alex's ability to escape.

"She's been able to do that for a long time." Jessi replied, as Alex rejoined her back down on the couch among the Marauders.

"Really?" Peter asked, awed by Alex's fighting abilities.

"Yep, we can tackle people pretty well too."Jessi laughed.

"Don't demonstrate." Sirius begged, scooting a little farther away from her.

Alex stuck her tongue out at him and shoved him, falling over in the process. Remus pulled her up yet again and laughed at her embarrassed expression.

"Should we head in for the night?" James asked, standing up and yawning.

The group nodded in agreement and each went to their respective rooms, the boys falling to sleep quickly, but Alex started decorating her room. She started by putting up the couple of Quidditch posters James and Sirius had gotten her, then she added the Gryffindor Pennants that Lily had brought her from the school Quidditch games. There was a bulletin board over the small desk and Alex pinned up the letters she had received from Molly, Gideon, and Fabian. Finally Alex taped up all the pictures she had, including Lily, Jessi, and her shopping in Diagon Alley that first day they met, Remus, Jessi, and Alex at Zonkos, James and Alex messing around on the Quidditch Pitch, Sirius flipping Alex upside down when she bothered him about his potions grade, and a group shot of Alex and Jessi with the Marauders. Once they were all taped up carefully Alex crawled into the nice warm bed and fell asleep.

Meanwhile Jessi did the same beginning with pictures, unlike Alex. She started with the still images she had from previous birthdays, then moved on to all the pictures she had of their new group, many of them exact copies of the ones Alex had hung in her room. Jessi then taped up a series of quotes that she had always loved, and added the quidditch posters and pennants from Lily and the Boys. Jessi then conjured some mirrors shaped like birds and hung them in various spots throughout the room before adding a Cheshire cat grin and deciding she was satisfied enough to sink into a peaceful sleep.


	23. Winter Fun

The following morning everyone went downstairs and found breakfast waiting for them with a note.

_Dear Kids,_

_ Mr. Potter and I have gone to work, please try not to burn the house down. Boys, don't go after Alex and Jessi, they are your guesst after all. I expect all of you to be in one piece when I return home. Be careful, don't leave the property, limit how much magic you use, and clean up after yourselves. Have fun!_

_ -Mum_

James put the note down on the counter and sat down for breakfast and everyone else did the same thing, eating breakfast with little incident. When they finished, Alex washed the dishes and put them away as James explained that because of the barriers surrounding Potter Mansion, underage magic was okay within the grounds, but only within reason.

Alex and Jessi nodded and Alex finished putting away the dishes while the boys put on their coats, gloves, hats, scarves, and etc. to get ready for the massive snowball fight they would be having. Alex and Jessi laughed as they walked over to them, throwing on Converse and opening the door, which the boys quickly shut.

"Where's your coat?" James asked worriedly.

"Upstairs." Jessi replied, smirking.

"Boots?"

"Not ones made for snow." Alex affirmed.

"Gloves?"

"Nope."

"Hat?"

"Not any I could wear in this weather." Alex laughed, "But we've got a warming charm on. Our bodies will keep themselves at the perfect temperature. We have no need for a coat."

"Why didn't we think of that?" James asked.

"What do you mean 'we'? Why didn't Remus think that up?" Sirius countered, turning to Remus, who looked uncomfortable.

"I don't know how to perform that spell." He responded, making the boys' mouths dropped open.

"We'll teach you later, now come on! It's snowball time!" Alex shouted, racing out the door.

"Wait up!" James cried before getting hit in the face with a large snowball.

"Oh it's on now Blondie!" James yelled, starting the snowball war.

~x~

Several hours later the group came inside, and the boys were considerably worse for the wear. James had a bloody lip from where a snowball had hit him, Sirius had icicles hanging from his hair, Peter was covered in snow, Remus had twigs stuck in his hair from a branch falling on him, and Alex and Jessi were perfectly fine (having tag teamed the boys), laughing as the boys tried to warm themselves.

"Do you want hot chocolate?" Alex asked.

"Yes, but Remus makes the best hot chocolate." Sirius stated, looking over at Remus.

"But you haven't had my hot chocolate." Alex laughed.

"It's true, she makes a good hot chocolate."

Alex pulled out six mugs from a cabinet over the sink.

"How do you know where everything is?" James inquired, having never told Alex where they were.

Alex shrugged, she just knew somehow. Alex pulled out a few Honeydukes chocolate bars and a few Hershey's chocolate bars and started crushing them up, grinding them until they were as fine as cocoa powder. Alex then pulled out the hot chocolate mixes Mrs. Potter had and boiled some water.

She poured the hot water and half a packet into each cup before adding some of the ground chocolate bars. She then mixed and added in the rest of the hot chocolate mix and finished stirring it, all the while singing under her breath.

"God rest ye merry hippogriffs may nothing you dismay! Remember Buckbeak's mother was born sometime this year!"

"Come and get it!" Alex called, grabbing her cup and moving out of the way.

The boys and Jessi ran in and grabbed the hot cups, drinking them happily. Within seconds they were looking up in shock at how good Alex's hot chocolate was.

"Don't look so shocked! We told you it would be good." Jessi scolded, drinking her hot chocolate happily.

"But we didn't expect it to be this good." Remus replied, drinking the majority of his cup.

Alex shook her head at them and finished her cup. She then walked over to the sink and started washing the dishes, taking the others' cups as they finished. When she had put the cups away she turned to the boys smiling.

"Any chance there's a lake or pond to go swimming in?"

James laughed and nodded, making Alex and Jessi smile and Peter frown.

"I think you're insane for swimming at this time of year." He told her.

"We are insane Peter! I thought you knew that already!" Jessi laughed in response as they all headed upstairs.

When they reached the floor they were staying on, Remus turned to Alex, realizing something.

"You were using a warming charm when you went swimming, weren't you?"

Alex smiled and nodded, a mischievous glint forming in her eyes.

"Why didn't you do that for us then?" James asked indignantly.

"Because when we first started swimming we didn't know warming charms. We were starting you exactly as we started." Jessi smirked.

They all changed into their swimsuits and headed outside, the boys shivering until Alex and Jessi took pity on them and performed warming charms for each of them. The boys all sighed in relief as the warmth spread over them and when they reached the edge of the pond they had no trouble jumping in.

James, Sirius, and Remus all did cannon balls; Peter did a belly flop, and Alex and Jessi just laughed before doing cannon balls as well. When they resurfaced, the boys were debating what water game to play and Alex laughed as she and Jessi started doing laps.

"We're playing Marco Polo, want to join?" James asked.

Alex and Jessi nodded; she might as well play since they wouldn't be able to swim laps once they started.

James was it first and Alex quickly sped to the other side of the pond with Jessi, calling out Polo as softly as they could. James caught Sirius within the first five minutes, mostly because Sirius thought it was fun to get really close to James and then jump away from him.

Alex managed to avoid getting caught by Sirius because she hid at the edge of the pond, taking care to move very quietly. Sirius caught Peter and twenty minutes later Jessi let herself get caught because she felt sorry for Peter. That was when Alex had to start watching herself.

Jessi knew how Alex kept from getting caught and knew exactly where to look for her so Alex started going against her own system, staying close to Jessi and ducking under the water whenever she called Marco. Unfortunately she was smart enough to figure that out and grabbed her when she went under.

Alex struggled when she grabbed her around the waist and pouted when she pulled her back up. Jessi laughed at her face and let her go.

"Your turn to be it."

Alex huffed and closed her eyes, counting to twenty before calling out 'Marco'.

Alex listened carefully not to where their voices were coming from but to where the water was splashing and quickly found that one was lurking behind her. She whirled around and dove forward, grabbing the person around the waist and holding on as she opened her eyes.

"Your turn Rem!" she laughed but James shook his head.

"We have to head back now. Mum won't be happy if she can't find us."

"Okay."

They all got out and threw clothes back on over their swimsuits, laughing and joking around as they headed back towards the house.

"Hey, let's have a Piggyback Race!" Sirius shouted randomly, and James nodded excitedly.

"Jessi and Sirius versus Remus and Alex. Peter you and I can judge."

Alex looked over at Rem and smirked.

"What do you think?"

"I think we could take them."

Alex nodded, "You're on!"

Jessi jumped onto Sirius's back while Alex jumped onto Remus's and Peter motioned for them to start. They took off running and Alex held on tightly to Remus to keep herself from falling as she watched Jessi flail all over the place on Sirius's back because of Sirius's odd running style. When they reached the finish line, Peter decided that Alex and Remus had won, and Sirius pouted.

"Next time, I want James to carry me; Sirius doesn't know how to run."

"Hey!" Sirius shouted indignantly as James laughed.

Alex shook her head at the pair and she and Jessi went upstairs to change, followed by the boys.


	24. Fun Indoors

The next day the group decided to hang around inside and were soon just relaxing upstairs. Alex curled up on Remus's lap while James put his head in her lap and napped. As Alex and Remus read, Sirius, Jessi, and Peter were running around doing random things and occasionally attacking James.

When she finished reading, Alex started singing under her breath again and Remus looked at her curiously.

"You can sing?"

Alex shrugged modestly and Remus laughed.

"You're good."

"Thanks, but Jessi's better."

Remus smiled at her and finished reading as well. Alex started playing with James's hair and Remus ran his fingers through hers.

"Your hair is really soft."

"Thanks."

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, unless of course you count the fact that Sirius somehow mysteriously ended up taped to the ceiling. Jessi had absolutely no idea how that happened. Sirius didn't believe her.

~x~

The following day, Alex and Jessi volunteered the boys to help them bake Christmas Cookies, so they all marched into the kitchen and sat down around the counter to wait for their assignments.

"Okay, James and Sirius, you two will decorate and gather ingredients. Remus, you and Peter will mix and put into the oven. Alex you will do the same, and Jessi will oversee the decorating." Mrs. Potter assigned, before leaving to take care of other chores.

Alex saluted and the group set off to work. Once they had a large bowl of dough going, Alex pulled out cookie cutters and started rolling out sheets of dough. She and Jessi then cut them as strategically as possible; reusing what few scraps of cookie dough were left over. Jessi arranged the cookies on the sheet and Remus put them into the oven while James and Sirius got out frosting and sprinkles.

The oven beeped a few minutes later, and Remus pulled the cookies out. James and Sirius dove towards them but Jessi caught both boys by their collars.

"Not yet boys, you don't want to burn yourselves, we need to let them cool."

James and Sirius both sat impatiently until Jessi nodded and then they dove forward to start decorating while Remus and Peter put another sheet in the oven. While James and Sirius did basic frosting and sprinkles, Jessi decorated all her cookies to look like their shape. The reindeer had red or black noses, dark brown antlers, white stomachs, and tan bodies, Santa had red suit, white trim, and black boots. Her Christmas trees were green with stars and ornaments.

"Jessi! Those look really good!"

Jessi smiled politely as she finished a reindeer and James stared at it curiously. "Why does it have a red nose?"

Alex's eyes went wide with shock and she turned around. "You don't know Rudolph!"

The boys shook their heads and Alex was just shocked. "You haven't heard that carol before?"

"No…" Sirius replied.

"Sing it for us Alex." Remus smiled but Alex shook her head.

"I'm sure you don't want to hear me sing."

"Go ahead! You too Jessi!"

Alex and Jessi sighed and started. "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen."

"Who are they?" Sirius asked, but Remus covered his mouth.

"But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw him, you would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games. Then one foggy Christmas eve Santa came to say, 'Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight'. Then how the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out with glee, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer you'll go down history, you'll go down in history."

Alex and Jessi finished embarrassedly and the boys started clapping, much to their dismay.

"Really, that was nothing."

Remus shook his head at her while James ruffled their hair. "That was good you two!"

Alex stuck her tongue out at him and put him in a headlock, messing up his hair.

"I don't think so!"

James flipped her and the pair crashed to the floor, wrestling about.

"James, what are you doing to Alex?" Mrs. Potter asked as she walked by towards the family room.

"Teaching her a lesson!"

"That's rich! I'm teaching you a lesson, dork!"

James started smiling and he and Alex both lay on the floor laughing until Jessi and Remus helped pull them up. Peter had meanwhile decorated the rest of the cookies and then Jessi started smirking as she flicked a handful of flour at Sirius.

Sirius's eyes went wide, and he flicked sugar at Jessi, who ducked, making it hit James. James flicked frosting at Sirius, but it hit Remus, whose retaliation missed and caught Alex and soon a full-blown war was raging. After the kitchen had been completely destroyed, the war ended and the six teens lay on the floor covered in sugar, flour, sprinkles, and frosting.

"That was…" James began, and Alex finished the sentence for him.

"Epic."

"Exactly!"

"We'd better clean up."

Alex flicked her wand and everything went back into place and tidied itself up so the group headed upstairs to shower and clean themselves off before dinner.


	25. Ice Skating

A day later, Alex and Jessi decided they wanted to go ice skating. They woke up early and headed outside to the pond they had gone swimming in earlier that week, pulling out their wands and carefully casting freezing charms. As they sat in the snow around the pond, they laced up the skates they had conjured and watched the pond freeze through. Then they pulled on the hats the boys had insisted they have, buttoned up their little pea coats, and pulled on their gloves. When ice skating, warming charms just didn't seem right.

"Perfect!"

Alex and Jessi stood up and carefully got out onto the ice, Alex falling down almost instantly. As she pulled herself back up she was more careful and soon she was gliding across the ice fairly gracefully with Jessi, who was far more experienced than she was. Eventually she got brave and tried a couple of small turns, but she ended up falling every time so she just continued to glide across the ice and smile at the snow coming down around her. Jessi laughed and glided along side of her flawlessly, the two girls perfectly content to just skate together in silence.

"Jessi! Alex! Are you out here?"

"We're at the pond!"

The boys came running over and smiled as they saw Alex and Jessi smiling serenely.

"Mind if we join you?"

Alex shook her head for both of them and motioned for them to join her.

Remus was the first one out onto the ice and he started to slip so Alex came up behind him and supported him for a second until he got his balance, then she helped James, while Jessi helped Peter, and Sirius.

Alex twirled across the ice and tried yet again to spin, but she fell and slid across the ice, knocking over James in the process.

"Sorry!"

James laughed and helped Alex up and the pair was off skating around again. Alex skated past Remus and suddenly slipped, starting to fall backwards. Remus reached out to catch her, losing his balance and the pair crashed to the ice together. Alex started laughing as Sirius tripped going around them and fell down, Peter then crashed into them and Sirius tripped James and Jessi so the entire group was sitting on the ice laughing at their inability to skate.

"Come on; let's go get some hot chocolate."

"Only if it's yours! That was amazing!"

Alex smiled and nodded. "I think I can make some for you boys. Now come along, I don't want you getting sick."

"Alex, you're doing the mother hen thing again." Jessi laughed, making Alex blush.


	26. Joining the Family

The next morning Alex walked down to the kitchen and found Mrs. Potter sitting alone on the counter. Alex had always been an earlier riser than the others, and hadn't seen any point in waking them all up. Alex popped up next to Mrs. Potter and sat cross legged. "Are you okay Mrs. Potter?"

"Call me mum dear, and yes, I'm just a little tired of hearing reports about attacks on muggleborns."

Alex nodded. "I know what you mean, but it will get better, Voldemort isn't going to win, I won't let him."

Mrs. Potter smiled at her. "You seem so sure."

"I am. I have faith that love will prevail, if I doubt that for even a second then I'm letting evil and hatred win."

"You're very wise for your age."

"I don't think age really matters, experience is what's important, and I have a lot of life experience." Alex replied with a smile.

Mrs. Potter just smiled and placed her hand on Alex's knee in a motherly manner.

"Mum, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead dear."

"Is it wrong of me to pity Voldemort?"

"Why do you pity him?"

"Because he'll never know love, and his mother died, leaving him abandoned and alone, his father didn't want him, and he's all alone. Can you imagine a life without love? It's so sad. I feel sorry for him, because maybe if he had known love things would have turned out differently for Tom Riddle."

"That's not wrong at all. That's incredibly true, and kind."

Alex nodded thoughtfully. "Good, because I've been feeling guilty for thinking that when I know he's killing innocents."

"The world isn't black and white Alex, there's a lot of grey, and the challenge is figuring out when the grey is too dark."

Alex smiled grimly and nodded. "Well, c'est la vie, je sais. I just wish that it could change, you know? I wish it could be easier."

"I think we all wish for that dear."

"Right, well thank you, but I think I'm going to go bother James."

Alex headed upstairs and walked into James's room, finding him sitting in a window seat across from the door.

"Hey James!"

"Hey Alex! Come join me."

Alex crossed the surprisingly clean room and sat down next to James, curling into his side to get warmer.

"You're really cold."

Alex laughed, "I'm always cold, that's why I learned warming charms, but I only use them when I need to."

James rubbed Alex's arms to help warm her up as she looked around his room. Like hers it was red and gold and decorated with Gryffindor Quidditch banners, Quidditch posters, and pictures. On the wall opposite his bed the wall had pictures over half of it and Alex could see pictures of her and Jessi with the boys up there, which made her smile.

"James, do you think I could come back again sometime after this break is over? It's so nice here, it feels like home."

James smiled at her. "Of course you can! You're one of us now, just like Jessi, so you'll always have a home here."

"Thanks James."

"No problem, besides, I'm pretty sure my mom wants to adopt you already."

Alex laughed, "Well, she did just tell me to call her Mum."

"See? You're already part of the family! Besides, you're already like a sister to me."

Alex smiled brightly at James before laughing. "I can live with joining this family, bro."

James smiled and stood up, pulling the blonde up with him.

"Come on sis, let's go get the others up and decorate the tree."


	27. Christmas Eve

A few nights later it was Christmas Eve and Alex and Jessi had hurriedly sent out all the gifts she had bought, minus the ones for the Marauders. Since Lily, Alice, and Frank were all at Lily's and Dumbledore and Minnie at Hogwarts, it made it easy to send out the gifts she had bought them. As the group was getting ready for bed, the boys were pestering Alex and Jessi as to what they had got them.

"Is it a waffle?" Peter asked, and Alex shook her head.

"A bird?"

Jessi shook her head.

"I'm not going to tell you, even if you guess correctly you know."

James tried to pull puppy dog eyes on her but Jessi nodded so Alex pulled them right back at him, and hers were a little more convincing. She stuck out her bottom lip slightly, made her large blue eyes get larger and she looked up at James with watery eyes as she spoke.

"James, you don't want to ruin the surprise, do you? You'll ruin Christmas if you make me tell you!" She whimpered, and James caved instantly.

"I promise not to ask again."

The other three chorused their promise and Jessi smirked.

"Good, because it was getting really annoying."

James cursed under his breath at falling for her trick and Alex laughed.

"You need to remember how well I can manipulate people."

James nodded and bid everyone goodnight and Sirius and Peter followed suit. Jessi hugged Alex good night and she and Remus were left sitting on the couch together.

"Are you excited about Christmas?" Remus asked, and Alex shrugged.

"I don't know, I've never really had a good Christmas. I never know what to expect."

"What do you mean?"

"Well my parents were constantly fighting and things were kind of rough."

"That's awful."

"Yeah but I'm used to it so don't worry." Alex told him sadly.

Remus looked over at her and sighed before standing up.

"Well I'm exhausted, so I think I'll head to bed. Good night!"

"Night!" Alex replied.

Alex got lost in her own thoughts and sleep soon drifted over her.


	28. Christmas Morning

The next morning James and Sirius woke up early and ran into Remus's and Peter's room to wake them up.

"Present time! Present time! Open the present and see what's inside!"

The boys went into the common area and found Alex curled up on the couch sound asleep. Of course Sirius didn't like that and jumped on her, shouting his little chant as he bounced up and down.

"Get off me! It's too early to be up!" Alex moaned as she stretched out.

"Alex it's Christmas! Wake up!" James yelled.

"Fine!" Alex huffed, standing up and glaring at James and Sirius.

She walked in a woke up Jessi who hit her repeatedly with a pillow for disturbing her, before Sirius's patience wore out

"Come on!" Sirius cried, pulling Jessi downstairs.

Jessi allowed herself to be dragged downstairs to the Christmas tree where they found Mr. and Mrs. Potter waiting.

"Happy Christmas!" They called in greeting.

"Merry Christmas!" Alex smiled, and they all looked at her.

Alex and Jessi sat down on the floor near James and Remus and Sirius walked over to the tree.

"Present time?" Sirius asked hopefully before he sat near everyone else.

Mrs. Potter laughed and nodded so Sirius dove towards the tree and started grabbing his presents. James passed out the other presents and soon everyone had a small stack in front of them.

Sirius started opening his gifts so everyone else did the same. The first gift Peter opened was from Alex and Jessi and he was overjoyed when he saw that they had gotten him a pair of shoes that had a waffle printed on them.

"Thank you!" he cried excitedly, hugging Jessi.

"I thought you would like them."

Remus was the next to open a gift from the girls and found a giant box of Honeydukes sweets and muggle sweets.

"Thanks."

They went through the rest of their gifts, including a studded dog collar for Sirius, along with a pair of tickets for James and Sirius to go see their favourite Quidditch team, and Alex and Jessi smiled as they put their things away and headed downstairs to relax for the rest of the day.


	29. Return to Hogwarts

A few days later they were back on the train for Hogwarts. Alex curled up on the seat between James and Remus and challenged Sirius to a game of exploding snap.

"Do you really think you can beat me?" he laughed, and Alex shook her head.

"No, but I can still have fun."

"Fine, get over here."

Alex sat down on the floor in front of Sirius and Jessi and they played for the entire train ride, excluding the short break they took to eat. Eventually James and Remus joined the game and Peter fell asleep on the seats. When they got to the castle Lily was waiting for Alex and Jessi and instantly hugged them, ignoring James's attempts to talk to her.

"Are you okay? Potter didn't attack you did he? Never mind, Remus would never let them. And I loved the gift you gave me! It was perfect!" Lily screamed, spinning Alex and Jessi around and jumping up and down.

"Good to see you too Lils!" Alex laughed, jumping up and down with the red head.

"I will never understand girls." Sirius sighed.

"No you won't, and if you do it means you are one." Jessi replied, ruffling his hair as Alex walked by to grab her pets.

"That's very possible." James joked.

"Who are you calling a girl?" Sirius growled, tackling James.

Alex laughed as she walked with Lily up towards the castle while the boys continued to fight behind them. Remus caught up to them and he and Lily were quickly discussing the essay Flitwick had assigned.

"Are you sure that's the proper use for the charm?" Lily was asking, but Jessi didn't like the school talk, so she interrupted.

"Did you have a good break Lils?"

Lily smiled and nodded, "Yeah, it was great! Alice and I hung out and went shopping, Frank carried our bags, and it was very peaceful. What about you guys?"

"Well, it wasn't very peaceful, but it was fun. We took the knight bus to James's house, we had a giant snowball fight, we went swimming in a lake and played Marco Polo, Sirius and I had a play fight, we made cookies, went ice skating, and then it was present time." Alex smiled.

"That's good, so who won your little fight?"

"Alex did." Remus laughed, making Lily look shocked.

"You won?"

Alex nodded and laughed along with Remus and Jessi at Lily's expression.

"Oh, come now Lily, surely you realized I'm a little spit fire. I know how to kick butt and I'm proud of it!"

Lily smiled and laughed with them as they headed first to Gryffindor Tower to put their things away, and then to the Great Hall for dinner.

~x~

Classes started back up again and Alex and Jessi spent most of their time focusing on school work and Quidditch practices, seeing as games would soon be starting again. Gryffindor and Slytherin were tied for the lead, but only because Slytherin was cheating at every turn.

School work was also getting harder, as spells became more advanced and finals drew closer. Alex and Jessi were also trying to do research for the Order whenever possible. Soon they were exhausted, and their friends started to worry about them.

"Do you think they're okay?" Peter asked.

"Maybe they're coming down with a cold?" Sirius suggested.

"It's like they're overworking themselves." Remus added.

"We've got to help them!"

"And how do you suggest we do that Potter?" Lily asked, trying to stay as far away from him as possible.

James sighed and Alex smiled as she and Jessi watched her friends' concern. They agreed to cut back on the research in order to keep themselves healthy.

"Hey guys!" Jessi greeted.

"Hey girls!" James replied, grabbing Alex in a headlock and ruffling her hair.

Alex twisted out of it and shook her head at him so he pouted and stopped.

"We should probably head down for dinner, come on!" Jessi told them, adding in an undertone to Sirius, "We've got a prank I want your help with."

Sirius nodded and smirked at the girls, who returned his mischievous look.

"What are you thinking?"

"We were thinking a school wide Valentine's day prank."

"I'm in!"


	30. Valentine's Day

A couple of weeks later it was Valentine's Day and James was getting nervous as he noticed Alex, Jessi, and Sirius glancing at each other and smiling evilly. As they were sitting in the great hall for lunch someone started screaming and an army of pygmy puffs rolled into the hall and started cuddling every person they came into contact with, covering people as the army moved across the hall. Alex and Jessi were clapping loudly and high-fiving Sirius as the Pygmy Puffs latched onto people and Dumbledore was smiling at them from the teachers' table. James looked over at Alex and Jessi and gaped at them, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"You did this?"

"Sirius helped." Jessi smirked.

Lily started laughing and everyone else joined in as they jumped on top of the table to avoid the Pygmy Puffs.

"Come on! Come this way!" Alex laughed, running across Gryffindor Table towards the teachers.

When she reached the teachers they stopped.

"Hey Minnie! I suggest y'all hide in the teachers' lounge with us." Alex smiled, climbing over the table towards the room behind the teachers.

The teachers laughed and followed her so the other Gryffindors climbed over the table and followed Alex and Jessi into the teachers' lounge. Jessi muttered the password and walked in as if this was an everyday occurrence.

"You know the password to the teachers' lounge?" Frank asked and Jessi nodded.

"Of course, we come here on a weekly basis."

Frank shook his head at her as Alex turned to McGonagall and Dumbledore.

"So, what do you think Minnie? Was it good? I want your opinion. You too Albus."

Lily looked horrified at the fact that Alex was addressing Dumbledore by his first name but both teachers smiled.

"Pretty good."

"However did you get them to latch on to the students?" Dumbledore questioned with interest.

"Well it wasn't as hard as I had thought. In fact, it was kind of easy…" Jessi began, smiling widely.


	31. Quidditch

A few days later was the big Slytherin vs. Gryffindor game and Alex and Jessi had been receiving various death threats from Slytherins, making their friends worry.

"Relax Rem; the worst thing that can happen is that I get killed." Alex murmured in an attempt to soothe him.

"That makes me feel so much better."

Alex laughed at him and ruffled his hair before standing up with Jessi, James, Sirius, Alice, and Frank, all of whom were also on the team.

"Ready?" James asked.

"Let's go kick some Slytherin arse!" Jessi cheered.

The group headed down to the locker rooms to get ready. Ben gave a quick pep talk and the team headed out onto the pitch, as Remus announced them.

"And it's the Gryffindors! Rafe, LaGrande, Black, Potter, Longbottom, Prewitt, and Louvelle!"

The Slytherins were already on the pitch waiting for them and the Slytherin team all smirked at Alex and Jessi threateningly so they smirked back. The quaffle was thrown and Alex shot up into the air, she had only moved a few feet forward before she was surrounded by Slytherins.

"Stupid Mudblood!"

Alex laughed and dropped off her broom to get away from the hostile players, landing back on her broom twenty some feet below. She sped forward and realized she had a group a Slytherins tailing her.

While the Slytherins focused all their attentions on taking out Alex, James, Alice, and Frank were busy making goal after goal until Gryffindor was ahead by almost two hundred points. Sirius and Jessi were trying desperately to keep bludgers away from Alex, who had to keep rolling in order to avoid them.

Alex realized that if she caught the snitch at that moment that Slytherin would be out of the running for the Quidditch cup and she started focusing on that instead of her safety. She noticed the snitch flying above her and went into a dive before quickly changing directions, shooting up towards the little golden blur. As her fingers closed around the snitch something barrelled into her side, knocking her sideways and breaking a rib. She was hit again and fell off her broom so that she was left hanging by a hand.

Realizing she could be seriously injured if she fell, Alex kicked out, her feet catching someone in the stomach and sending them flying away from her as she swung back onto her broom. The whistle blew, ending the game and Alex smiled threw the pain of her rib as she punched a couple of Slytherins in order to get to the ground.

James and Frank had gotten into a fight with some Slytherins and now sported bloody lips, Jessi's hair had been pulled out of its ponytail and the only female Slytherin Quidditch player had a few claw marks in her face from Jessi's retaliation. Jessi casually knocked out a Slytherin by hitting him over the head with a beater's bat as she walked towards Alex with James and the blonde smiled, revealing a mouth full of blood which she quickly spat out.

Remus and Lily ran out onto the pitch and hugged Alex making her wince as she tried to catch her breath. James and Sirius ran over as Peter caught up to Alice and Frank and everyone looked at Alex with concern.

"What's wrong?"

"They broke my rib." Alex gasped.

"Stupid Slytherins! You had already caught the snitch when they started attacking you!" Jessi growled.

"But don't worry, we got them back." Sirius smirked.

Madame Pomphrey ran out onto the field and seeing Alex ran over.

"Broken rib? That's easy to repair."

Alex gasped in relief and took a huge breath.

"Thanks Poppy!"

The nurse laughed and walked away.

"Let's go party in the Gryffindor common room!" Sirius cheered.

"Party time!" Jessi agreed, as Sirius tried to detach Eloise from his side as she congratulated him.


	32. Pranks

A couple days later it was time for another Hogsmeade trip and the gang had no special plans as they walked down towards the little town.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks. I could use a good Butterbeer." Jessi decided.

"Wait, Jessi! I just noticed you're finally speaking without your American accent!" Sirius shouted excitedly.

"We have been for awhile now." Alex smiled, ruffling Sirius's hair as he pretended to pout.

"Oh cheer up Sirius! It's not their fault you're unobservant!" Lily laughed.

The Gryffindors sat down near the back of the Three Broomsticks, behind some trees. Peter and James went to get Butterbeers so Jessi listened to the conversations around her, and one in particular caught her attention.

"When are we going to join, Bella?"

"Immediately after school. I'm not going to wait much longer before I join the Dark Lord." Bellatrix sneered.

"But don't you think that's a bit soon?"

"Soon? You idiot! The sooner we join the better! You're the one who's not thinking!" she snapped.

Jessi saw out of the corner of her eye that Bellatrix was talking to Rodolphus Lestrange and Macnair, and decided that sometime soon she would prank them for being death eaters.

James and Peter came back over and handed everyone Butterbeers. Once they were seated Jessi smirked evilly. Peter looked at her fearfully while the others looked curious.

"I've got a plan involving a prank on some Slytherins who were just chatting about becoming death eaters. I think you'll enjoy it."

"I knew she was an honorary Marauder for a reason!" Sirius laughed.

"So, here's what we're going to do…"

~x~

The next day Alex decided to hang out in the common room and relax while James, Jessi, and Sirius set up the prank on the Slytherins. Alex pulled out the book she was reading at the moment- Blood and Chocolate, one of her all-time favourites- when Remus came up behind her.

"Blood and Chocolate?"

Alex jumped and turned around.

"Oh! Hey Rem!"

Alex scooted over in her chair and Remus sat down with her. It was a tight squeeze until Alex shifted so that she was sitting on Remus's lap for the most part.

"So what's it about?"

"Well, it's about a pack of werewolves basically, but one girl in particular who is struggling with figuring out whether she wants to be the wolf or a human. It's one of my favourites."

"Werewolves?" asked Remus.

Alex nodded sheepishly. "I love werewolf books and movies. A guilty pleasure of sorts."

"Why werewolves?"

Alex contemplated for a second. "Hmm… probably because I love the moon, I love wolves, and vampires suck… literally."

Remus laughed at the pun and Alex smiled apologetically. "Sorry about the pun."

"You need to stop apologizing so much. You didn't do anything wrong." Remus sighed.

"Sorry!"

"Point proven!"

Remus shook his head and Alex snapped her mouth shut before opening her book.

"Mind if I read with you?"

"Of course not! It's what we always do!"

Alex flipped back to the first page and read it quickly waiting until Remus nodded to flip the page. Every once in the while he would ask a question and Alex would explain the question or elbow him in the stomach for acting like an idiot.

"Ow! Alex, you're bruising my kidney!"

"Your kidneys are in back, I'm bruising your intestines."

"Like that's any better."

"Just keep reading Rem."

Remus sighed and kept reading while Alex started to yawn. Remus nodded that he had finished the page but Alex didn't turn it and Remus realized she was sleeping. He shifted her a little and gently pulled the book out of her hands, flipping the page and reading as the blonde slept peacefully.

After a few minutes Alex's eyes snapped open and she jumped up, making Remus fall out of the chair. Without any explanation Alex ran out of the common room and down the stairs towards the Slytherin Common Room.

When she got there she slipped inside and found James, Jessi, and Sirius crouching in the corner to avoid the pile of Slytherins surrounding Bellatrix, Macnair and Rodolphus. Alex crept over to James and Sirius and slipped under the cloak with them.

"How'd it go?"

"Good," James whispered, "but now we're stuck here."

"We'll fix that, right Jessi? Just run."

Alex and Jessi stepped out from under the cloak before the boys could stop them and walked towards the Slytherins.

"Hey y'all!"

"I hope you enjoy the new look!"

The Slytherins turned around and Alex and Jessi bolted out of the Common Room, hearing a herd of people at their heels.

"Get back here you stupid little mudbloods!" Bellatrix shrieked and Jessi laughed.

They made it into the common room and shut the door behind them before any of the Slytherins saw them, leaning against the door to catch their breath. The footsteps went thundering past and Alex and Jessi walked over to Remus who was staring at them curiously.

"What was that about?"

"I forgot to figure out how they would get out of the Slytherin Common Room after they jinxed the Slytherins to look like donkeys."

At that moment James and Sirius bolted into the common room and hugged Alex and Jessi respectively.

"That was stupid."

"How else were you two supposed to get out?"

Remus stood up and turned to James and Sirius. "Wait, what did they do?"

"They taunted the Slytherins and had them all chasing after them." Sirius growled.

"What?" Remus cried. "Are you insane?"

"I thought we'd already gone over this," Jessi smiled, "yes, we are."

"Don't do that again!"

"Fine." Alex grabbed her book out of Remus's hands and batted Sirius with it as she headed up to her common room.


	33. Battle

As summer approached, the Gryffindors started spending a lot more of their time outside and Alex and Jessi came up with an idea for some weekend fun.

"Let's have a pirate battle on the lake, boys vs. girls."

James and Sirius smirked at each other and nodded.

"Prepare to sink ladies."

Alex ran to get Lily and Alice and told them her plan.

"Here's the deal, its boys vs. girls and the giant squid is a girl, I can get her on our side. Jessi went to go get Minnie and tell her our plan, I'm sure she'll help us."

"Okay!"

Lily and Alice ran off to make their own preparations so Alex walked down to the lake and dove in. She emitted a series of screeches and resurfaced as the Giant Squid swam up to meet her.

Alex screeched again and the Squid screeched in response, making Alex smile.

The squid sank back into the lake and Alex got out of the chilled water. Lily, Alice, Jessi, and McGonagall came out to see her and Jessi and Alex told them her plan.

~x~

The day of the battle came and Alex, Jessi, Lily, and Alice met at the spot where they had hidden their ship. Alex and Jessi boarded first and Jessi took the wheel while Lily and Alice climbed up after them.

"Let's go girls!"

Jessi took the ship out to the middle of the lake and the boys met them on their own ship.

"Ready to lose boys?" Alex shouted over the wind.

"Are you?" James yelled back.

Jessi made a screeching noise and the Squid surfaced, going after the boys' ship as they tried to out run it. Jessi steered the ship towards theirs and she had Alice take the wheel. She then grabbed a rope from the rigging and swung over to the boys' ship, pulling out her fake sword as she did so. Sirius met her with his sword drawn and the second her feet touched the ground they were fighting. Jessi kept Sirius at bay easily and disarmed him, taking his sword and throwing him overboard to the Squid who threw him onto the Girls' ship. Lily tied him up and dragged him below the deck as Alex swung over and duelled with Remus while Jessi tackled Peter. Jessi disarmed Peter easily and he suffered the same fate as Sirius but Remus was much harder to fight, especially once James started helping him.

"You will lose!" James screamed.

"We think not!"

And with that Alex helped Jessi launch through the air over their heads and disarm them in a quick 1-2 motion.

"Have a nice fall."

Alex shoved them both over but Remus grabbed her arm and started to drag her with him. Alex grabbed the rigging and hung suspended between the two ships with Remus hanging from her arm.

Jessi swung across and helped Alex towards their ship and she managed to climb aboard, dragging Remus with her.

"Sorry Rem."

Alex charmed a piece of rope to bind him and Lily dragged him down as Alice forced Frank to surrender. Alex and Jessi walked down to the cells they had set up and smirked at the Marauders.

"Told you we would win."

"How did you get the squid to help you?" James asked.

"We learned how to speak squid with Dumbledore's help. And the giant squid is a girl."

"Damn."

"What about your fighting?"

"I took fencing lessons, so I taught Jessi too."

Sirius pouted at her and she laughed in response.

"Come on; let's go back to the castle."

Jessi opened the door and they untied the boys. They all brought the ships back to the hiding spot and walked to the castle together, laughing as they went.


	34. End of the Year

Finals approached before they even realized it and that meant that the school year was almost over and summer was approaching faster than a train with no brakes. As Alex and Jessi walked out of their last final, History of Magic, James wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders.

"I don't want you to go back to America, I'll miss you!"

"Well, actually, we decided that we're going to continue at Hogwarts."

"YES!"

"Yep, we like it better here."

"Oh by the way, you are officially invited to come visit Potter Mansion this summer."

"Why thank you. We will take you up on that offer after we visit our parents in America."

"Good. Now come on, we have to pack up our stuff and head to the feast."

Alex and Jessi allowed James to steer them to the common room and they packed up their things sadly, they didn't want to leave Hogwarts, but they knew they would get to come back soon, so they packed anyway.

Once the last shirt was in their trunks they shut the lids and headed down to the Great Hall where their friends were already waiting. They sat in their spot and didn't really listen as Dumbledore gave the end of term speech. Instead they were thinking of how amazing their lives were. It felt almost unreal.

Food appeared in front of them and Alex grabbed as much as she could fit on her plate, digging in as she laughed at Sirius's antics. He was busily trying to see how much food he could shove in his mouth, and Alex, feeling particularly daring, challenged him to a contest. As she shoved food in her mouth, she tried not to laugh and ended up getting the same amount of food in her mouth as Sirius did. She then had the challenge of chewing it. Jessi laughed as she watched, and batted both of them for being so strange.

When the feast was over everyone went up to the dorms to sleep and Alex and Jessi couldn't help but smile at how wonderful their year had been.

~x~

The next morning Alex and Jessi walked down with their friends to the carriages and waved them good-bye.

"We'll write you the second we're home!" James yelled out the window at them.

"We'll write you too! See you soon!"

The carriages disappeared from her sight, Jessi and Alex linked arms.

"Well Love, looks like it's time to head back to America."

Jessi and Alex walked slowly back up to their dorm and grabbed their things before walking back to the portal to get home.

"See you soon!" Alex smiled at the castle as she and Jessi crawled through the portal.

She and Jessi hugged each other goodbye, and Alex headed up to her room to write a letter to the boys.

_Hey boys!_

_We made it back to America just fine, I hope you had a good trip home as well. We'll probably be back at Hogwarts in about a week. I guess we'll see you sometime after that. Sirius, don't send that prank in the mail, I know you want to, but don't send it to Jessi, send it to a death eater. James, don't eat just junk food, you want to be healthy for Quidditch. Peter, don't over eat, you know you'll get sick. Oh and Rem, try to get some sun. At the very least read outside! You'll hurt your eyes if you keep reading in the dark! Please write soon. We miss y'all. Like a lot. -Blondie _

Alex attached the note to her owl's leg and sent it out through the window.


	35. Return to Potter Mansion

The next day Alex received a letter from the boys and she tore it open hurriedly.

Hey Blondie!

We had a great trip home, although we missed you two a lot. We're all at my house for the rest of the summer, so when you get here we'll be at Potter Mansion. Feel free to come and visit for the rest of the summer, it won't be right without you around.

_Hey Alex! Don't worry, I'll start reading outside. Please get here soon, I'm starting to act like James and Sirius, which is beginning to worry me. I miss you a lot; I can't wait to see you! – Remus_

**Hey Alex! I hope you get here soon, I miss you. So does everybody else. -Petey**

**BLONDIE! I miss you! How am I supposed to torment Prongs without you?! I feel kind of bad since I'm targeting Moony, but I can't be too bothered by that. Hey! When you get here I'll have to tell you all about this girl I met! I think you'll like her! Hurry up and get here -Pads**

Well as you can see we all miss you. Please get here soon. Mum misses you too, and by the way, she's kind of adopted you and Jessi as her daughters. Miss you - James (your big bro)

Alex smiled widely and reread the letter before carefully tucking the letter away with her school things for safekeeping. She called Jessi to let her know what the letter said and they decided to leave exactly a week from when they'd gotten back.

~x~

A week later Alex left a note for her mom saying she was going back to England and waited for Jessi. Once she got there, they crawled through the portal to Hogwarts with their things. They were going to head straight for the boys; they missed them a lot more than they thought they would've; it made their hearts ache that they were so far away from them. So they decided they weren't going to take any detours before meeting up with them.

Alex and Jessi walked through Hogwarts and out to Hogsmeade. Alex held out her right hand and the Knight Bus appeared. They hopped on and paid the conductor before sitting down.

"Potter Mansion, please." Jessi smiled.

The bus lurched forward and a few minutes later they were walking down the road towards Potter Mansion. When they got to the large door they knocked three times and James opened it.

"Alex!"

James pulled her into a bone crushing hug that lifted her off her feet and pulled her inside before setting her back down.

"Jessi!"

James did the same thing to Jessi, smiling brightly at both of them.

"Hey James!"

"Come on. Sirius, Remus, and Peter are here already. Oh and by the way, you know us way to well, Sirius had already put the prank in the envelope, I was eating cake, Peter was on his fifth helping, and Rem was reading in the corner without the lights on when we got your letter."

Alex smiled softly and James hugged them again. He hadn't known them very long, but he missed them more than he had thought he would when they had been gone. And they had only been gone a week.

Mrs. Potter walked out of the kitchen and smiled at the girls. "Hello dears! Was the rest of your year good?"

Jessi nodded as James kept dragging her and Alex upstairs and she was tackled by Sirius when he saw her.

"Jessi!" He cried excitedly.

"Hey mutt!"

"Alex!"

Remus hugged Alex first, Jessi still being on the ground, and Peter ran over to hug her and Jessi, who had finally been pulled back off the ground. Sirius, in search of a new victim, proceeded to tackle Alex.

"Hey guys!"

"Lily, Alice, and Frank should be here later today so you know."

"You got Lily to come?" Alex asked sceptically.

"She felt the need to protect you from us." Remus laughed.

"That makes more sense."

"We missed you!" James blurted randomly, tackling Alex and Jessi simultaneously.

"We missed you too." Jessi smiled as James held her down on top of Alex.

"James, mind letting us up?"

James moved and Jessi scooted over so that she was lying on the floor next to Alex and Sirius instantly started tickling her.

"No! Sirius! Stop! Please! Ah! Rem! Help me!"

Remus pulled Sirius off of Jessi and the girl jumped up and moved out of Sirius's reach. Alex got up and Jessi started using her as a shield while James and Peter laughed.

"Umm, hi!"

"LILY!" Alex and Jessi shrieked, running over and tackling their friend.

"Hi!"

James took Lily's things and put them in one of the empty rooms. Alice and Frank walked up the stairs and James took their things to two other rooms while Alex pulled Lily up and hugged Alice and Frank.

"Right well let's all get some lunch."

The group headed downstairs, Jessi leading the way. "Let's eat."

They all sat down and James brought food over. Jessi ate her food quickly and started teasing Sirius by making his plate move around the table and finally hover over his head just out of reach.

"Jessi!" He growled.

"Fine." Jessi sighed, dropping the plate in front of him in a way that splashed ketchup all over him.

"I'll get you back!"

"I'm sure you will."

"So we'll be going on Vacation tomorrow."

Alex and Jessi snapped their heads towards James and stared at him questioningly.

"Yep, just us kids. We're going to be staying at a private island for a couple weeks. It'll be just us on the island."

"Okay then. Well what will we do for the rest of the day?" Lily asked.

"Let's play Quidditch." Sirius suggested and everyone nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay: Jessi, Alex, Lily, and Alice on one team and Remus, Frank, James, and I on the other team. Peter can be referee since he doesn't like heights." Sirius decided.

"Sounds good. Let's go!" Alex cheered.

They all grabbed brooms and raced outside to an Apple Grove where they were allowed to play Quidditch.

"Alex, don't you want shoes?" Remus asked.

Alex looked down at her bare feet and shook her head as she continued to run.

Sirius and James had both turned into animagi to get ahead and Alex and Jessi changed as well, racing ahead of them. When they got to the grove they turned back to humans and smirked at the boys.

"You're the wolf and tiger?!" James asked in shock.

"Yes we are." Alex smirked, dumbfounding James

They split into teams and divided up jobs. James and Alex were Seekers, Alice and Frank were Chasers, Jessi and Sirius were Beaters, and Remus and Lily were Keepers.

"Let's go!"

They all took to the sky and the game was pretty intense, but Alex caught the snitch and Alice made a lot more goals than Frank did, so Alex, Lily, Jessi, and Alice won.

"Sorry Boys." Alice smirked as Alex started play fighting with Sirius.

"Oi! Mutts! Turn back into humans!" Jessi laughed.

Alex and Sirius did so grudgingly and walked with everyone back to the house.

"Piggy back races again!"

Alex raised an eyebrow at Sirius and he shrugged.

"Alice and Frank, James and Lily, Remus and Alex, and Jessi and I. Peter can judge."

They agreed grudgingly and lined up in their positions.

"Go!"

They all took off running and James ended up winning.

"Yes!"

"Potter, let me go!"


	36. Welcome to Paradise

The next morning everyone grabbed their things and brought them downstairs.

"Does everyone have everything?" Mr. Potter asked.

Alex nodded for the girls and James for the guys and Mr. Potter grabbed their things.

"Good, now your things will be waiting for you at the island. I borrowed young Arthur Weasley's car for you to fly down to the island. I installed an auto pilot button that will get you to the island without you doing anything. Make sure to hit the invisibility booster button every half hour. Have fun!"

James led the group to the Ford Anglia and they all piled inside the car. James took Driver's seat and Jessi, Sirius, Peter, and Lily also piled up in front leaving Remus, Alex, Alice, and Frank in back. In order for everyone to fit, Peter ended up on Sirius's lap and Alex was on Remus's.

"This is going to be a fun drive! Why couldn't I have one of the girls straddling me instead?" Sirius muttered sarcastically.

"Relax Padfoot!" Jessi hissed as the car lurched up into the sky.

~x~

Several uncomfortable hours later, the car descended and they found themselves on Paradise Island. Alex and Jessi were the first ones out of the car and Alex fell face first into the sand.

Remus and James pulled her up and everyone else tumbled out of the car. James led the way up the steps to the large beach house they would be staying in and showed them the boys' room and the girls' room. Their stuff was already there and Lily and Alice set about unpacking while Alex and Jessi kept following the boys.

The second Sirius saw the kitchen he started complaining of hunger and Alex started pulling out all the fixings for brats and began to cook.

"Wait, you can cook?"

"Yes, I can. So can Jessi."

"Good, we won't starve!"

Jessi shook her head and pulled out enough plates for everyone. Lily and Alice came in and sat down just as the brats finished cooking and Alex set the plate on the counter with the ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, relish, and buns.

They all grabbed food and dug in hungrily. As she ate, Alex looked around at her surroundings. The walls were painted in bright airy colours and there were windows everywhere. Over all, it was a nice, bright, and inviting space.

After everyone had finished, Jessi grabbed their dishes and washed them before turning around to face everyone.

"So what shall we do?"

"Let's just sail around the island, there's a boat. I'm sure we can figure out how to drive it." Sirius suggested.

"I know how to drive a boat, so I'll drive. Where are the keys?" Alex smiled.

James handed them to her and they all walked out to the dock where a nice red speed boat was waiting. Jessi steadied the boat while everyone got in before hopping in as well. Alex then untied the boat and kneeled on the driver's seat in order to see and started the boat. Jessi sat right next to Alex, figuring she'd be the best co-pilot of the lot, and they sped away and Alex drove around the island while James told everyone about it.

"There's Pirate's Cove. That's a nice place to dock for a picnic. Over there is waterfall lagoon. Kind of obvious how it got its name."

They drove past a little cove that had a large waterfall gushing down into it and Alex and Jessi smiled. Waterfall jumping, cliff diving, and jumping off any high area was always fun.

The teens got back to the dock and Alex docked swiftly, turning off the ignition as she did so. It was already getting dark and they decided to have a quick meal before they all turned in for the night.


	37. Waterfall Cove

The next morning Remus was the first one to wake up and he made pancakes for everyone. He was almost done with the pancakes when Alex walked into the kitchen wearing her pyjamas, which consisted of splatter painted shorts and an oversized tee shirt.

"Morning Rem!"

Remus smiled at her and she wrapped her arms around him while he cooked.

"I'm tired."

"Then go back to sleep." Remus chuckled.

"But I'm already awake! Silly werewolf!"

Remus looked at her in confusion and Alex explained.

"There's are commercial in America for a kids' cereal called Trix that goes, 'Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!"

Remus nodded and Alex let go of him, hopping up on the counter and swinging her legs back and forth.

"I want to go over to that Waterfall lagoon today I think." Alex mused.

"I'll go with you if you want."

Alex nodded. "Hey, let's eat and go now. We can take the boat and leave a note for the others."

Remus nodded and they ate quickly. Alex did the dishes while Remus wrote the note and then they both got changed. Alex grabbed a bright red bikini and a pair of shorts and Remus just grabbed a plain black t-shirt to throw on over his blue swim trunks.

Alex undocked the boat and they sped towards the lagoon. When they got there, Alex threw their anchor in and pulled off her shorts, diving into the water.

"Come on Rem! The water's great!"

Remus jumped in and together they swam towards the waterfall. Alex swam under it and found a cave lying behind it, which she quickly started walking through.

"Alex! Wait, you don't know what might be in there!"

Remus ran and caught up with Alex as she started climbing up the side of the cave, towards a shaft of light. When she heard Remus, Alex looked down at him and smirked.

"Come on Rem, it's an easy wall to climb."

"Of course she rock climbs!" Remus muttered under his breath as he started climbing after her.

The pair came out on top of the waterfall, and Alex smiled. She walked slowly towards the edge of the waterfall and Remus tried to grab her, but she was out of his reach.

"Alex, be careful!"

"Don't worry Rem-ah!"

Alex slipped and went over the cliff; Remus ran over and watched helplessly as she fell in to the water, but a second later her head surfaced.

"Alex! Are you okay?!"

Alex nodded and started laughing.

"I didn't actually fall, I jumped!"

Remus sighed in relief and Alex beckoned for him to come and join her. After a few seconds of debate, Remus jumped off the waterfall and when he resurfaced he found that he had actually liked the jump.

"You liked it, didn't you?"

Remus nodded guiltily and Alex smirked as she swam over to him.

"It's even better when you jump off a really high cliff. You just feel the wind rushing all around you and when you hit the water it's like you're plummeting through time itself. You feel like you're suspended. It's absolutely amazing!"

"What are you an adrenaline junkie?"

Alex contemplated for a moment and nodded. "You could say that I suppose. I just like the feeling you get in your stomach. That feeling where butterflies are filling you up and your stomach starts doing flips. That's what I like."

Remus nodded and swam over to a rock that was under the water but high enough to sit on and rested on it. Alex swam a few laps before sitting next to him.

"We should probably head back."

Remus nodded and they got back in the boat and headed for the beach house.


	38. Tubing

A couple of days later all of the Gryffindors decided that they should try surfing and made a big day of it. They each grabbed a surfboard and paddled out into the waves. Sirius and James got the hang of it very quickly but the second Alex tried to kneel, she would lose her balance and crash into the waves. Remus, Jessi, Lily, and Alice were doing okay and Peter and Frank had already given up.

"Alex, just give up already!" Frank called, but the blonde shook her head.

"No! I'm going to get this!"

Alex managed to kneel and forced herself to stand up. When she realized she was standing, her jaw dropped.

"Oh my god! I did it! I actually did it- ah!"

Alex fell forward and was sucked into the waves. When after a minute she didn't resurface, Sirius dove in after her and pulled her up.

"I'm fine!" Alex coughed, but Sirius continued to pull her towards shore.

"You're done surfing." Sirius told her.

"Fine!"

Alex pouted and watched as they continued to surf. Frank and Peter came and sat down next to her and Frank put a hand on her shoulder consolingly.

"At least you know you can kick their arses at other water related things."

Alex eyes went wide and she smiled evilly.

"Alex, what are you up to?" Peter asked.

"I've got a plan."

Alex hopped in the boat and drove off quickly coming back half an hour later with a two person tube connected to the back of the boat.

"Hey y'all! Let's go tubing!"

"What's that?"

"I'll explain after I teach a couple of you to drive the boat."

The others hopped in the boat and Alex taught Alice and Frank how to drive.

"Okay, this is the accelerator, this is neutral. Don't over-steer or the boat might tip."

"Okay."

Jessi then explained how tubing worked and James and Sirius volunteered to go first.

The second they signalled they were good to go, Alex gunned the accelerator and they took off. James and Sirius bounced along like ragdolls and Alex decided that it was time for them to fly off, so she drove in a circle until a huge wave pool formed and then she gunned through the centre of it, sending the boys flying through the air.

Alex drove over and pulled them into the boat, laughing at their disgruntled expressions.

"I'll go next! Who wants to go with me?"

Jessi said that she would go with Alex and they climbed onto the tube. Frank took the wheel and gunned it like Alex had and he twisted and turned the boat, but they managed to stay on fairly well.

Finally Jessi and Alex kneeled and flipped off of the tube, helping each other stay afloat while Frank brought the boat around and they crawled aboard.

Remus and Lily decided they would go next and Alex let Frank drive again. After a few minutes, Lily went flying off and the group decided that they had had enough fun for one day, and headed back to shore, with Alex driving once more so docking would be easier.


	39. Goodbye Paradise

A week later the group was debating what they should do. After all, they had already had boat races, broom jousting, broom races, a giant water fight, and had a luau.

"I have an idea!" Alex blurted randomly.

"What is it?"

"We could all build giant sand castles that are connected and play a game of tag or hide-and-seek in them!"

"Yes! Let's go!"

Sirius ran outside and the others laughed and followed.

Once everyone had built a sandcastle, they all decided to figure out who was going to be it.

"Nose goes!" Jessi yelled and she touched a finger to her nose and everyone quickly followed.

"Sirius touched his nose last, he's it!"

Alex and Jessi took off running into the nearest castle and ran through the various rooms and tunnels to get away from the boy chasing them. Eventually Alex found a good spot to hide and sat down in it quietly so that she wouldn't have to run.

"Alex, scoot over!"

Alex jumped as Remus squeezed in next to her and the two of them discussed their latest reads while Jessi ran past them laughing maniacally.

The rest of the day passed quickly.

~x~

The next day everyone packed and loaded themselves into the car.

"Yay! Another awkward car ride!" Alex cheered.

Alex ended up on top of James and Remus while Lily was on Peter's lap.

"Alex can't Pete and I switch?"

"Shut up James! This car ride is going to be long enough without you acting all jealous and fighting with Lils." Jessi groaned.

"But…"

"No! Our answer is definitive! You will stay where you are, and Lily will stay where she is. You just need to relax."

Alex spoke sternly, letting it be known that there would be no more discussion, but she didn't speak coldly, and everyone knew that she meant no harm in her harsh words.

"You're used to dealing with little kids, aren't you?" Remus asked.

Alex nodded. "My summer job used to be working at a day care."

"Are you implying that I act like a little kid?"

"I'm not implying! I'm saying it flat out!" Alex laughed.

"No! NO! JAMES!"

~x~

Alex ran out of the car and was almost to the front door when James grabbed her, picking her up off the ground and lifting her above his head while she kicked and squirmed.

"JAMES! Put me down!"

"James! Don't drop her!" Sirius yelled.

James turned and slipped, Alex flying out of his grasp.

"Ah!"

Remus and Sirius ran forward and barely managed to catch the blonde. James meanwhile fell into a pit of dirt and was staring worriedly at Alex.

"I'm fine, really, I am!"

"Alex! I'm sorry!"

Lily glared at James. "You dropped Alex! She could've gotten hurt!"

James looked away shamefully as Mrs. Potter came bustling out the door.

"What's going on out here? Oh dear! James, did you drop poor Alex? How many times have I told you not to rough house in the front yard? You always trip! Save the rough housing for the soft grass out back!"

Mrs. Potter shook her head and walked back inside, the kids following straight behind her.

"I've got lunch ready for you! I hope you're in the mood for Greek salad!"

"Sounds delicious!" Jessi smiled as she sat at the kitchen table.

"Thank you dear! Here you go, eat up dears!"

Everyone ate their food quickly and as they did so, eight owls came swooping towards the house, including Alex's owl Athena, Jessi's owl Toothless, and James's owl Nigel.

"Hogwarts letters!" Sirius cheered.

The owls flew in an open window and landed in front of each of the Gryffindors.

Alex tore open her letter and a badge fell out, which she dropped in surprise.

"Alex! You're Quidditch Captain!"

"I'm, what?!"

"You're Quidditch Captain! Congratulations!" James hugged Alex before turning to Jessi before turning to Jessi who was also holding a badge..

"Are you prefect?"

"No, I'm Quidditch Captain too!"

"Co-captains!" Alex cheered, high fiving Jessi.

"Are you prefect then?" James asked Remus

Remus nodded and Lily did as well.

"That's great guys! Congratulations!" Alex smiled.

"Party tonight!"

Jessi nodded enthusiastically, but Lily shook her head. "No, your parties generally involve firewhiskey."

"Oh, come on Lily! I'll make sure there's no firewhiskey, it will just be dancing and Butterbeer. It will be fun!" Alex smiled in a sing-song voice, trying to convince her friend.

Lily hesitated but finally nodded. "Fine. But I catch one whiff of Firewhiskey, and we're done."

"Agreed."

"Okay then! Party time!"


	40. Quidditch World Cup

Shortly after that, James and Sirius left for the World Cup, thanking Jessi and Alex again. Taking advantage of the short time they had without the rambunctious boys, Jessi and Alex took care of all of their school work, helping Peter when needed, and asking for Remus's help on occasion. Lily and Alice had already completed their homework, so they used the days free of James and Sirius to relax outside with Frank. Mr. Potter sent patronuses frequently to let them know how the match was going, and Alex and Jessi were excited to finally hear that James and Sirius were coming home.

Alex woke up early to make them breakfast, while Jessi decided to sleep in and let them come to her. Alex had just finished breakfast when a pair of warm hands covered her eyes.

"James?"

Alex turned around and hugged James tightly before leaving his hold to hug Sirius. Mr. Potter came in behind the boys and hugged her as well, thanking her for the breakfast.

"No problem, I figured you might be hungry, and the chances of anyone else being up this early were slim to none."

James and Sirius laughed and nodded, launching into a play-by-play recount of the cup, which Alex listened to with enthusiasm.

"It was amazing, we need you to come with us some time!"

Alex smiled. "I'd love that."

A pair of footsteps padded down the stairs and a groggy Jessi appeared in the doorway.

"You're so loud! I don't know how anyone is expected to sleep with you lot around!"

Alex smiled and handed Jessi a cup of Orange Juice and placed a plate of pancakes in front of her as she sat down, prompting Jessi to be slightly less groggy. James and Sirius gave her a shorter version of the tale they'd told Alex and by the end of it Jessi was as awake as she was going to be.

"I'm glad you had a good time."

James and Sirius nodded and the rest of the day passed quickly with them trying to subdue the still excited boys.


	41. Back to the Alley

The next morning Alex woke up to James jumping up and down on her bed.

"What the hell do you want?!" She groaned as she put her pillow over her head.

"Alex! We're going to Diagon Alley!"  
"It's too early!"

"It's almost noon!"

Alex sat up suddenly, throwing James off her bed and jumped up. "Why didn't you get me up sooner? I have to get ready!"

Alex ran into her closet and then into the bathroom, slamming the door as James stared at it in confusion.

"Sometimes I really wonder about her." James muttered.

As Alex got ready James looked around her room and smiled at all the pictures and letters she had taped to the wall.

Alex walked back out of her bathroom wearing a pair of shorts, some wedges, and a bright red tank top. She had straightened her hair and put a red head band in it.

"You ready?"

"Just about!"

Alex grabbed her purse and stuffed her coin purse in it before allowing James to drag her downstairs.

When they got to the kitchen, Alex grabbed a piece of toast and they joined the cue of Gryffindors waiting to floo to Diagon Alley.

"Here, I'll take you with me."

James grabbed Alex's hand and together they flooed to Flourish and Blot's.

"Come on, we need to go to Gringott's first."

The group walked down the bright street to Gringott's and paired up to go down to the vaults.

"Okay, Sirius, Jessi, and I will go together, Lily and Alice, Peter and Frank, and Remus and Alex." James decided.

"Okay."

Jessi dragged Sirius and James over to a goblin and handed him their keys, extracting the boys' keys from their pockets rather forcibly. The goblin led the little group down to the carts, and they all climbed in, Jessi sitting right between the boys. In hindsight, that probably wasn't Jessi's best decision, as the boys fought with each other across her for the most of the ride, and on more than one occasion, the girl had to grab Sirius by the collar as he nearly fell out of the cart.

"Would you two knock it off?! Where's Alex to be your mother when I need her?"

"We don't need her to be our mother!"

Jessi raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Oh really? So does that mean you're not actually two year olds?"

James looked like he was about to retort, but the cart jolted to a stop and he got out to get his money. The boys continued to fight as they continued and Jessi was relieved to get out at her vault. She shoved the boys together so that their fighting would be less of a nuisance, and once Sirius had his money, they returned to the surface.

"Next time, I get to go with Rem, and Alex can babysit."

~x~

Meanwhile Alex and Remus split away from the group and walked over to an available Goblin.

"Excuse me, but we would like to make withdrawals."

The goblin looked down at Alex and she returned his stare unfalteringly and eventually the goblin chuckled.

"You're a brave girl, well, come along."

The goblin led Remus and Alex through the bank to one of the carts designed for transporting people to their vaults and Remus helped Alex get in before climbing in after her.

"Which vaults?"

"Vaults 246 and 1821."

The cart started zipping down the track and Remus held onto Alex's arm as if he was afraid she would fall out of the cart.

"Relax, I'll be fine."

Remus hesitantly let go of her arm and they stopped.

"Vault 246."

Remus got out and produced his key. After the vault opened he quickly grabbed some of his money and shoved it in a bag before walking back to the cart. It sped off again and a few minutes later they reached Alex's vault and she grabbed the money she would need for the year before Remus helped her back into the cart and they headed back to the surface.

"You guys ready to go?" James called.

"Yeah. Come on."

Jessi led the way to get their school books and then they went to restock potions ingredients.

"Okay, let's go get the boys' robe fittings done and then we'll go get stationary. While you boys are getting your fittings, we'll run over and restock on owl treats and things like that. We'll meet you back at Madam Malkin's before we all go and get stationary." Lily decided, leading the girls towards Eeylop's owl emporium while the boys headed for Madam Malkin's.

After everyone had the rest of their school supplies, they headed to the Leaky Cauldron for supper.

"Gideon! Fabian!" Alex cried, running over to hug the twins.

"Hey you two! What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, we thought you would be back in the United States by now!"

Jessi laughed. "We decided to stick around. We kind of like it here. So how's graduation been treating you?"

"Well we got accepted to the auror training program and, of course we joined the you-know-what."

"That's great! You'll be great!"

"Why thanks! Wait a minute, is that our little Allie-bear!"

Gideon and Fabian turned to hug Alice who blushed furiously at her nickname.

"We wondered if we would find you here! Well we need to go, but we'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Oh, and Alex, don't forget to write, keep us informed of anything you here through your job."

Alex nodded. "Will do, and send us updates as well. We need to know everything I can."

Gideon and Fabian saluted Alex and Jessi before turning and walking away.

"Bye boys!" Jessi called.

"Well let's eat."


	42. Back to Hogwarts

A week later everyone was walking down to the knight bus so that they could all get on the train back to Hogwarts.

"Do you all have everything? Do you have your clothes, your books, your…"

"Mum! We'll be fine! We'll write as soon as we get there, so just relax."

Mrs. Potter nodded and hugged everybody goodbye before they hopped on the train.

"Honestly, sometimes I think she's convinced I would lose my head if it weren't attached." James groaned.

"Oh come on bro, she just loves you! She wants to make sure you're okay." Alex laughed, ruffling James's hair as she passed him.

"I know, I know."

"Come on, let's grab a compartment."

The group sat down and a rather eventful game of Exploding Snap began.

~x~

As Jessi, Alex, Lily, Alice, Frank, and The Marauders walked up towards the carriages that would bring them to Hogwarts, Alex couldn't keep the smile off of her face.

"Blondie, what are you smiling about?" Sirius asked.

"I'm just really happy to be back here Padfoot."

Sirius nodded and the group climbed into a carriage at the front of the line.

"Hey, anyone know who the new defence teacher is going to be?" James asked.

"Oh, yeah, it's Nathan Thomas. He wrote some book or something and then was a consultant at the ministry. I've heard he's a real ass though." Jessi replied calmly.

"How the hell do you know all this?"

"Minnie sent us letters throughout the summer. We asked her about him."

"Of course you're pen-pals with a teacher. I should've realized."

Alex stuck her tongue out at James and turned away from him to talk to Peter.

"Oh, come on sis! You know I was joking."

Alex turned around and shot him a smile before turning back to Peter.

"You ready to be back at school Petey?"

"Yep! At least I think I am…"

"Remember, if you need any help just ask us and we will gladly assist you." Jessi smiled as she joined them.

Peter smiled at them and Alex returned the smile before she turned to face Alice.

"So, I heard Dumbledore's planning a dance for this year."

Alice's eyes lit up with excitement. "Really?! I hope he does, could I do your make up?"

Alex nodded and Alice turned to Lily and the pair started plotting as they all got out of the carriages.

"Sis! Please talk to me!"

Alex turned to James and sighed, waltzing over to him and slipping her arm around his shoulders casually.

"Well if I have to!"

James hugged Alex's waist and the pair skipped up the steps to the castle. As they entered the Great Hall Alex spotted McGonagall and she tore away from James.

"MINNIE!"

McGonagall turned around just in time to see a blur of blond hair and she nearly fell over as Alex hugged her. Jessi raced in right behind and joined their hug.

"Hello dears! How was your break?"

Alex smiled. "It was good! We'll have to tell you all about it at one of our teas! How was yours?"

"Rather uneventful. I need to go and handle the first years now, so why don't you go and sit with your fellow housemates."

"Okay!"

Jessi and Alex sauntered back over to her friends and twirled down into their seats.

"So… whatever shall we discuss?"

"Well I simply have no idea!" Lily replied, catching onto the joke in Alice's words.

"I cannot possibly fathom how we could ever have such a lull in our conversation!" Jessi agreed.

The girls all looked at each other for a moment before collapsing in a fit of laughter, which earned them strange looks from the boys.

Alex rolled her eyes at their stupidity as she recovered and she started rummaging around the folds of her skirt.

"Alex, what are you doing?"

"Looking for something."

Alex apparently found it because she smiled widely and stopped, pulling her hands back up with an enormous lollipop that was practically the size of her head.

"Bloody hell! Where did you get that thing?!"James exclaimed.

Alex smiled serenely and started to eat her lollipop while other students filed into the hall and took their spots.

"This is going to end badly!" Jessi whispered to Remus.

"Why?"

"Alex high on sugar is an extremely dangerous thing."

Remus's eyes went wide and he grabbed the lollipop from her.

"Rem!"

"I'll give it back to you after dinner, you need healthy food first."

Alex pouted but allowed him to hold on to her lollipop.

The first years were led in by Minnie and Alex and Jessi tuned out through their sorting and Dumbledore's speech and once food appeared Alex ate as quickly as she could.

"Rem…"

Remus sighed and handed her the lollipop.

"Thank you!"

Alex continued to eat her lollipop and Jessi watched her nervously.

"Alex, don't eat that whole thing!"

Alex stuck her tongue out at Jessi and continued to eat happily. When dinner was over, Jessi led the way up to Gryffindor tower, skipping ahead while Remus and Lily helped the first years.

"Thestral flight!"

Jessi walked into the common room and flopped down on her favourite couch while other students filed in. James flopped down next to Alex in the arm chairs and took a bite of her lollipop.

"Hey! You have to ask first!"

"Sorry."

"It's okay!"

Alex gave James her lollipop and he took a bite before shaking his head at the blonde.

"You're so innocent!"

Jessi laughed and rolled her eyes at James. "Yeah, she's totally innocent."

"We should probably head up for some sleep. Good night James."

Alex kissed James on the cheek before skipping up the stairs that Lily and Alice had already disappeared up, Jessi following quickly.


	43. Enlisting

The next morning, Alex was reluctant to get out of her nice warm bed.

"Alex! Don't make me get Sirius!" Jessi threatened.

Alex screamed and jumped out of bed, rushing to get ready. After all, Sirius had to a tendency to not be very kind when he was attempting to wake his fellow Gryffindors and Alex was in no mood to handle an over-excited mutt.

All of the 5th year Gryffindors met in the common room and walked down to the great hall for breakfast together. When they were all seated with food, Jessi groaned.

"I just realized how tough this year is going to be!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we'll have O.W.L.S, Quidditch, we'll be Quidditch captains, regular homework, our training in the lake, and…" Alex quickly bit her tongue as Jessi shot her a look, but James noticed.

"And what?"

"And babysitting you lot!"

James looked insulted and Alex laughed, ruffling his hair as the students new schedules were passed out.

"Nice cover." Jessi whispered before reading her schedule aloud.

"Okay, so this term I've got Charms, then Transfiguration, Free Period, DADA, Lunch, Potions, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures. How 'bout you lot?"

"Same, so I guess we'll get to stick together." Alex smiled, laughing at James's slightly worried expression.

"Aw, come on, you've dealt with us for one year, I think you can last a few more."

James shrugged and continued to eat his breakfast, forcing Alex to realize that it wasn't her that had him worried.

"James, what's wrong? What's eating at you?"

James looked up in surprise, but shook his head. "It's nothing, don't worry sis."

"James Potter, you either tell me what your problem is this instant or I will pick it out of your brain."

James shook his head yet again and Alex sighed before closing her eyes and forcing her thoughts into James' mind, searching quickly for the answer she wanted. When she found it she retracted her thoughts and opened her eyes.

"James," Alex began, placing her cold hand over his warm one, "Mum and Da will be fine, and you don't need to worry about them. Besides, with us at Hogwarts they won't have to worry about trying to protect us, and they'll be safer. It will all be fine, I promise."

"How did you know?"

"She told you she would pick it out of your head. She looked through your thoughts."

James gaped in disbelief. "But, how? I've never met anyone who could do that besides McGonagall and Dumbledore."

Jessi shrugged. "I don't know, it just sort of happens. We don't always mean to. Sorry."

"You do it too?"

Jessi nodded, and Sirius looked stunned.

"Well, you did warn me. Besides, I expect oddities from you by now." James smiled.

"True, we are quite odd, I suppose."

"You've got that right." Sirius muttered, prompting a smack from Jessi.

Alex saw Dumbledore leaving the table and stood up abruptly. "We'll meet up with y'all later, we have to take care of a couple of things."

"Oh. Well, okay, if you want help we could help you..."

"No! We'll be fine. We'll find you when we're done."

Alex grabbed Jessi and they headed straight to Dumbledore's office, entering his office after knocking quietly. "We want to join the Order of the Phoenix."

Dumbledore looked up in surprise, but Alex spoke before he could. "Wait, let me explain. I know you think we're too young to join, but we're already going to end up fighting whether you like it or not, and the sooner we start learning the better."

"That may be true, however..."

"I'm not done! We'll train however much you want, and we'll follow all our orders. We have to fight. We need to do more to protect them than sit around in an old classroom and hope. We have to do something so that we don't lose it!"

Jessi and Alex had discussed their plan when they had gotten back to America, both of them agreeing that this was the best course of action.

Dumbledore froze and considered the girls in front of him more fully. They looked desperate, frantic, and he couldn't say no to them.

"Fine. I'll let you in. I'm not saying you'll get sent on missions until you're a bit older but you can come to the meetings and train."

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Alex squealed, running to hug Dumbledore warmly.

"Yes, yes. Now, we'll start your training sometime next week, so for now enjoy your day." Dumbledore smiled as he patted her hair.

Alex pulled away and Jessi smiled brightly at him before they bolted out the door, leaving a bemused Dumbledore behind them.

Alex pulled the map out of her pocket as they ran from Dumbledore's office, spotting their friends down by their willow. She pocketed the map once more and they sprinted down to the lake as quickly as they could.

"We're done! What are you lot up to?" Jessi smiled flopping down next to Sirius

"We were just trying to figure that out." James smiled, scooting over so that Alex could sit directly between him and Remus.

"Any suggestions?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"We're good with just about anything mutt."

"Well, why don't we just stay here and relax, we won't get a lot of chances for that once classes start." Remus suggested, and James nodded.

"Sounds good to me, unless anyone objects?"

Everyone shook their head so Alex shifted to make herself more comfortable, leaning against Remus and putting her legs in James's lap. Sirius stretched out in the sun, Jessi using him as a pillow and James pulled out his snitch, tossing it in the air and catching it whenever it started to go too far.

"James, why do you always have that snitch with you?"

The boys all shared a look before James responded. "Well, it's kind of a long story."

"Go ahead, we've got time." Jessi commanded.

James sighed. "Well, basically, it all started as a prank, Sirius and I wanted to release all the Quidditch balls throughout the school, so we had stolen the keys to the equipment shed from the captain, and went down to the pitch at midnight to steal the trunk."

"Of course you did. Was Rafe mad?" Jessi asked. "Furious. Anyway, we didn't realize that snitches have this weird thing about them."

"Flesh memories, right? That's why we wear gloves during matches."

"Right. You're a seeker. Forgot about that. Anyway, I didn't know that, and wound up grabbing the snitch with my bare hands. It followed me around all day and I had no idea why."

Remus chuckled. "They didn't know what they'd done wrong until I finally told him what had happened."

"So does it follow you around now?"

James nodded. "So I keep it closed in my pocket until I need something to do with my hands, and then I pull it out. It helps me think and it distracts me from problems."

Alex smiled thoughtfully and played with her necklace. "That's like this I guess. Whenever I can't concentrate, I play with and then I have better focus. I never take it off."

James reached out and grabbed the charm out of her hand so he could look at it more clearly. It was a small howling wolf on a delicate silver chain, and it made James smile.

"It suits you perfectly. It seems like it was made just for you."

Alex smiled again and stretched luxuriously in the sun. "You know, this is the most relaxing day we've had in ages. We never stop causing trouble."

"What would be the fun in not causing trouble." Jessi laughed.

~x~

After several hours relaxing by the lake, it started to pour, so the group raced up to the castle in order to escape the dismal weather. Unfortunately, the rain was coming down hard enough and the lake was far enough away from the castle that they were completely soaked by the time they reached the entrance.

"S-so, c-cold." Alex shivered, wringing out her soaked hair, Jessi doing the same, as the boys all shook the water off of them.

"Let's go back to the common room and warm up by the fire."

"Or," Sirius smirked, "We could go hang out in the Room of Requirement. That way we won't have to deal with the whiny little firsties."

"I don't care where we go so long as it's warm."

Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I can think of some ways to warm you up if you want."

Jessi instantly reached out and smacked the back of Sirius's head, but Alex just laughed and scrunched up her nose. "You're not my type."

Sirius's jaw dropped and he gaped at her. "But- How? I'm everyone's type!"

James, Jessi and Remus burst out laughing at his reaction as Alex shook her head.

"I don't go for the cocky, immature, mutts. Just not my cup of tea."

Sirius stuck at his lower lip in a pout, but Alex just laughed again. "Besides, who knows how many diseases you've got? For all I know you've got fleas and STDs."

At this James, Jessi, and Remus roared with laughter, and Sirius lunged forward and tossed Alex over his shoulder. "That's it Blondie. No more talking from you."

Alex struggled to get free but Sirius clamped down on her legs and she resigned herself to being carried. Sirius led the way to the Room of Requirement and Jessi, James and Remus laughed at Alex's predicament, but made no attempts to assist her.

"Sirius, you smell like wet dog..."

"He always has."

Sirius dropped Alex in surprise as he turned to the boy who had spoken. Alex turned as well and saw a boy very similar in appearance to Sirius.

"Alex, Jessi, meet..."

"Your brother, Regulus. Pleasure to meet you." Jessi smiled, offering her hand.

Alex stood up and offered her hand as well, and Regulus shook both grudgingly.

"You're those Yankee mudbloods right?"

Sirius took a step forward, but Jessi put her hand up.

"Yes, although it'd be to your benefit to actually get to know us before using those terms to describe me. We might surprise you."

Regulus regarded her coolly and Alex gave him a winning smile. "The fact that we're Gryffindors doesn't mean you need to hate us. We're really not so awful."

Regulus smirked. "Are you implying that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin can get a long?"

"I'm not implying. I'm saying. Lily and Severus do fine. Who knows, maybe it would be one hell of an alliance."

"You two don't exactly look like good allies at the moment."

"We just know how to weather a storm. That's not such a bad trait to have."

Regulus shrugged and turned away. "I'll see you around Gryffindors."

Sirius turned to Alex and Jessi with a stunned look on his face. "Why would you talk to him?"

"Let's just say he may be able to help us in the long run."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Him? Help you? Don't be absurd."

Alex shrugged. "We have a way with people. We'll see how forthcoming he is."

Sirius shook his head, but let it drop and the group headed up to the room of requirement. When they got inside, Alex grinned at how warm it was.

"Yay." She sighed contentedly, plopping onto a couch that the room had provided.

Jessi laughed and sprawled out on the other couch, leaving the boys to fight over the armchairs. Once they were all settled, Sirius laughed.

"So as quidditch captains, how lenient are you going to be?"

Alex and Jessi looked at each other and smirked.

"Not very."

"Prepare for hell this year boys."

Sirius and James both paled considerably and James smiled unconvincingly.

"I'd like to hand over my resignation now..."

Alex raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed. "Are you going to train us how you trained yourselves?"

"We're thinking about it."

Sirius groaned and Jessi and Alex just laughed.

"Don't worry so much Pads, it'll be fine. We can't be any worse than Rafe was."

James and Sirius both looked comforted by that fact, making Remus and Peter laugh. Alex shook her head to try and get the water out of her hair and inadvertently hit James in the face, making him glare.

"Oh you're in for it now sis!"

"Jessi! Save me!"

"Nope, you're on your own love."


	44. Training and Letters

As classes started back up, Alex and Jessi amazed by how much stress they were under. They had known that O.W.L.s would be difficult, but they certainly weren't prepared for just how much preparation they required. However that preparation was nothing in comparison to the Order training they were about to begin.

The girls were called up to Dumbledore's office, where they found a strange looking man waiting with Dumbledore. He was covered in scars and Jessi realized who he was the second he turned around and she could see his eye.

"Alastor Moody? Is this who's training us for the Order?"

"Girls? I'm training children?"

Alex raised herself to her full height and stared Moody down. "I may be a child in years but that does not mean I don't have the conviction or experience necessary to help the Order in a fight."

"We ought to teach you a thing or two about manners." Jessi spit.

Moody gave a lopsided grin. "At least they're feisty, very well, come with me."

Jessi and Alex followed Moody out of Dumbledore's office and all the way into the Room of Requirement. The second the door closed behind her Alex ducked, having anticipated Moody's immediate attack, while Jessi cast a shield charm. Alex then disarmed him and the man evaluated the pair more carefully.

"You're smarter than I thought. You may have just passed the very first lesson you need."

"Constant vigilance?" Alex and Jessi asked with a smile, and Moody nodded appreciatively as he picked up his wand. He tried once more to attack the girls, but once more they deflected it and Moody smiled.

"Perfect. You're the brightest I've had yet, let's try something more difficult. Wands at the ready."

~x~

Alex and Jessi continued with their lessons for several weeks and found that they were learning more under Moody's guidance than they had ever imagined. Not only were there more ways to use magic than they had ever imagined, but together with Alastor they had uncovered the beginnings of what they believed might be a form of magic that they could use against Voldemort.

Essentially, using some potions they had found in the restricted section of the library as well as their bodies' predisposition to accept wands, the team had found a way for the girls to take their wands into their skin, basically absorbing it and combine its power with that of their own raw, physical magic to perform magic without needing to hold wands in their hands, eliminating the potential of being disarmed, as well as not needing to say any curses, giving them the element of surprise and making it so that they could cast curses they didn't know the words for by focusing their bodies into their magic.

This theory of Absorbtion became the main component of Alex and Jessi's training. With it, Alex and Jessi were learning to control elements and use them as weapons, making plants and rocks work for them. The only issue was eventually this magic drained the girls physically, leaving them dizzy and exhausted. They also could not keep their wands absorbed within their skin for too long, or you could begin to see the wand under their skin as it left a small burn, which Alex and Jessi were having trouble explaining away when Sirius and Remus confronted them about it.

Nevertheless, they continued to work on this magic, and Alex and Jessi were pleased to find that the more they trained, the longer they could last without having any side effects, and soon Moody was even confident enough in their abilities that he cleared them to work in the field, so long as they continued with their training with him on a monthly basis. Dumbledore agreed, although he did restrict them to only fighting should the battle come to them, and not allowing the pair to go out on missions searching for trouble.

Reluctantly Alex and Jessi had agreed to those terms, making Dumbledore promise that they could increase their work for the Order as they aged. He consented to that readily and Alex and Jessi were officially conducted into the Order.

When Mr. and Mrs. Potter were informed, they wrote the girls a letter.

_Dear Alex and Jessi,_

_Are you certain about this? I mean this is a huge decision for you to be making so young. The Order is a dangerous place to be when you're still barely an adult, have you really thought this through? We'll support you either way, but aren't your parents worried? I'd be worried sick if James joined, especially at this age. Oh, do be careful dears!_

**Don't worry about her girls, she's just fretting. Personally, I think this is very brave and I'm incredibly proud of you. You should know how to defend yourself, and I feel better knowing that you're being trained by the best of the best. I do ask that you be careful though, because we are still worried about you, and battle is very different from training, where there's no real danger, so keep that in mind.**

_Either way, be careful dears, and we love you! We hope you'll come here for Christmas break again! We do so enjoy your company._

**Give the boys some trouble for us, and try to not let them know you joined the Order, or they'll decide they have to join, and I don't think they're ready yet, eager as they may be**

**Love, Dad,** _and Mum_

Jessi smiled as Alex read the letter out loud and the blonde quickly scribbled back a reply.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_Yes, we are certain about this, we've been thinking about it for quite some time now. We don't necessarily want to fight yet, we just want to be able to defend ourselves, and the school, and the boys if it comes down to any real danger._

"Gee, that's nothing at all Alex."

"Well, it's the truth isn't it?"

Jessi shook her head so Alex kept writing.

_The fact is we're in a war, and we want to do our part, however small that may be. And our parents don't even care, well, mine don't, Jessi's are worried too, but you're the only ones who've shown any real concern, and we really appreciate that. So don't worry, we'll be really careful. And we know battle is going to be very different from training, and we just hope we don't have to experience the difference for some time to come._

"Now you're just lying to them."

"Hush up would you? I'm trying to make sure they don't lose sleep over us doing this!"

"Oh very well, continue with your soothing." Jessi smirked, sprawling across her bed lazily.

"I will, thanks."

_The boys are doing very well, Remus is a great prefect, and I think he's really enjoying the fact that Dumbledore trusted him with this in spite of that condition he's also worrying about. Jessi thinks Peter's finally understanding some of our work, so we think he has a shot at getting some good O.W.L.s. And James and Sirius are being trouble makers as usual. They almost got detentions from Professor Thomas for pranking the Slytherins, but we got them out of it, and now we make them carry our books to pay us back. Oh, and we think we will be joining you for Christmas again if you don't mind._

_I'm not sure of too much else, so I'll write to you again later. And I promise to not let the boys know unless it's absolutely necessary._

_Love, Alex, __**And Jessi**_


End file.
